Time To Hunt Again
by serindarkwolf19
Summary: DMC/FF7 Crossover: Eight years after Dante's first visit, a new Hellgate opens up and Dante needs help. So he looks to a few Avalanche members for help. On Hold at the moment
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Our favorite Demon Hunter, Dante, is back and ready to kick devil ass! This time, he and all of his friends are playing in a whole new ballpark. There are lotz more demons and a new threatening enemy to fight. Literately, the world is going to Hell and it's time to save the day once again. **

**Read and Review, okay?**

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Time To Hunt Again

Chapter One

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"_It's said in the bible that sooner or later Hell would break loose and the demons would crawl out of the Hell gates to conquer mankind, making the world their own. It was suppose to be just a legend, a myth.  
__But it's happening now. The devils in hell have finally decided that they had enough of their fiery world and to take over the human world.  
U__nfortunately for them, there is only one who stands in their way of truly escaping. There is only one who can stop them from leaving Hell and taking over the human world. That would be me, Dante, the son of Demon Warrior Sparda.  
__But…..even I have my limits. The war against Hell is getting worst and worst every day. A new Hell gate has opened up and there are too many demons coming through. Hundreds and hundreds of demons are spilling out of Hell, while I'm trying to fight them back in. I'm afraid that I, Demon Hunter Dante, am having too much trouble in keeping the devils back. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need help. And there's only one I can think of that can help me. And that's Chaos."

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_It was night time, yet the sky was a fiery red color as if the heavens itself was in flames. And it probably was. After what was happening now, no one could doubt that Heaven was in the same fiery flames that the human world was in right now. Terrible things were happening now and there was nothing to stop it.  
It was the Day of Judgment, or that's what it felt like.  
A terrible battle was happening in the world of mankind. A Hell gate had opened only a few weeks before and demons were spilling out, causing havoc for all humans. People were living in more terror than they ever had been now. It was horrible. 

Now, usually the demons that were arriving in the human world were no match for the world famous Demon Hunter, Dante. He was always able to take down the strongest of the strong demons. He had defeated more demons than anyone ever had. He had slashed enormous demons in half with his trusty swords, Rebellion and Alastor. He was able to shoot down almost a hundred aerial demons from the sky with Ebony and Ivory.  
However, this time, things were truly going to Hell. Literately. There were hundreds of demons coming out of the Hell gates at once. Almost thousands. And they just kept coming out. Soon the city that Dante protected was being over run by the demons. People were killed or were running in fear. So many screams of terror filled the air, letting the demons savor their victory. It truly was Hell.  
Even to Dante as he found hard day and night, trying to kill as many demons as he could. He had been spending several weeks fighting, nearly without food or rest. He had to get rid of the demons and he fought along side his new friend, Zack, a large gray wolf he had befriended while on a different world, other than Hell itself. The wolf helped him tear the demons apart before throwing them back into the fiery pits. But it still was bad. They fought non-stop, fighting demons after demons.

Eventually, Dante had to call on his three lovely lady friends.

Trish, Lady, and Lucia showed up only a few weeks after the war on Hell had started. They had heard and seen what was going on and had been spending their time fighting what demons were in their cities. But finally they had gotten it under control. Still, the demons kept coming and eventually they went to the Heart of the matter. Soon, all four old friends and the wolf were fighting in a demonic and hellish war to save what survivors there were, which weren't very much. There was only a decent 1000 people left, and that was all of them left in the world, not just the city. The survivors of Dante's city eventually had to flee for their lives while the Demon Hunter and his team were fighting the demons off.

The worst news; it was not enough.

There was an explosion as bullets slammed into a gas station's tanks, sending demon body parts flying every where and the souls of the demons back into the Hell Gates. Fire flew into the sky as smoke curled into the sky, surrounded by flames. It was a terrible mess.  
"Dante!" The beautiful blonde, Trish, yelled into her com-link, trying to get a hold of the Demon Hunter himself. She was having a helluva time fighting the demons on her own, and she was not a bad fighter at all. It was wearing her out. "Dammit! Dante! Pick up your com-link!"

"_What is it, Trish? I'm a little busy here."_ Came the annoyed voice of the handsome half demon.

Trish swore as she balled up a fist and threw a wave of electricity to send demons flying back into the Hell Gates. "Doing what?! I saw you up there, you jackass!" She cursed loudly as she ducked under a demonic cat's claws before she kneed it hard in the head, sending it flying backward. "You better get your ass over here! I'm getting the best I can but there's just too many! I need backup right now!"

On the top of a building, sitting on a bunch of dead demon bodies, Dante lit up a cigarette before he stood up and moved away from the large pile. He took several puffs as he held his com-link up to his ear. He hated it when Trish started yelling at him. Sometimes she yelled at him for the dumbest reasons. But still, he had seen what kind of mess she was in right at the moment.  
"All right. All right. Don't get your thong tied up." He grinned when he heard her scream at him through the com-link. He took another puff off his cigarette before he flicked it over his shoulder onto the pile which was actually drenched in gasoline. The pile of carcasses lit up quickly from the small cherry of the smokes. "I'm on my way." Dante sighed as he went over to his motorcycle and climbed on. He kicked it alive, revving it loudly. "Judgment Day really is Hell, isn't it?" He muttered to himself before he sped the motorbike right off the roof of the building he was on top of. The bike went sailing through the air until he landed on a few demons on the road below, killing them instantly.

Within minutes, he was at the drop point and blasting demons left and right with his shotgun as he sped up to where Trish was. He quickly braked and went sailing towards a large demon, slashing it with Rebellion before he began firing off his twin handguns. He glanced over to see Trish nearly barbiequing demons with her electric powers.  
"Not bad." He said smirking before he quickly got into a fighting stance and began fighting the demons with his hands, soon taking out his guns and blasting the brains out of the demons that attacked him. The two were quickly joined by an angered wolf and two annoyed women where were slicing and blasting demons apart with their weapons. It was an apocalyptic fight and full of devastation.

Finally, after hours of endless fighting, it quieted down.

The demons stopped coming through the Hell Gates, yet it was still open. It was just swirling above the city with fiery red clouds and sparks but at least the demons had decided to take a break from fighting the Demon Hunter, the three lovely ladies and the savage wolf. Still, the women and the wolf were exhausted.

"Damn it." Lady snapped as she sank down on her haunches then fell onto her rear, while hugging her large gun to her. "That was way, way too close."

Trish nodded as she sank down next to her, pulling her hair back into a ponytail to air out her sweaty neck. Her black leather top was drenched in her sweat and demon blood, making her pull a face at the smell. "They're getting way too strong, guys." She stated the obvious. "Too strong and there's too many." She sighed. "Face it, but we're fighting a losing Apocalyptic war. We need a whole lot more fighters."

Lucia cupped a hand over her mouth, looking as innocent as ever. She also looked pale and tired. She was more paler due to all the fighting, not to mention the death of her mother had taken a toll on her. "I wish there was something we could do."

All eyes flickered up to the pacing white haired half demon, who was staring off into the distance. He looked so lost in his thoughts. It was something that the women weren't used to. He never had deep thoughtful moments. Not until lately that is. It scared the three that he was growing too serious because of this war. Dante knew that this war was getting out of control. Too many people had and were being killed because of the demons. It scared him to know that there was only a thousand people left in the world, mostly adults. But what men that were left were not fighters. There were only four people and one wolf fighting the demons.

"Dante."

Dante's eyes flashed open and he turned around slowly while his three lovely friends jumped to their feet. Though the demon hunter knew that voice, the women did not. They did not know Zack the wolf's true form. They only knew that he was a large gray wolf that had started hanging around Dante. And nothing more. When they looked at where Zack had once been, the wolf was gone but was replaced by a spikey, black haired man.

The real Zack.

Dante smirked when he saw Zack's true form and that made him shake his head as he completely faced the man. "Hey, Zack." He told him with a lazy shrug. "I was wondering when you were going to show off the real you." He shook his head. "You got a plan of what to do? 'Cause we could use a real good one right about now."

"Dante, who the hell is this? Has this stranger been your dog this entire time?!" Lady asked bewildered.

Both Dante and Zack snorted as they glanced at one another, while the black haired warrior stood up and began stretching his limbs. "Nope. Not a dog. There's a difference between dogs and wolves. But I am a friend." He said before nodding to each of the women. "My name is Zack Faire. I'm a friend of Dante's, and an Ex-Soldier of Shinra Inc. Reborn as a Nibel wolf but now and then I can change forms." He then turned to Dante, letting his sapphire blue eyes look into the half demon's icy blue ones. "Yeah, Dante. I have a plan and you might just like it. Vincent. He and Cloud could help us out here. Your world is going to Hell, so why not have an Avalanche put out the flames?" He suggested.

Dante paused from turning away before he looked right back at Zack with a sly smile on his face. It was obvious that he nearly forgot about his old friends from a different world. "Valentine. Didn't really think of him. It's been a while since I've even thought about him and the others." He paused to scratch the back of his neck. "Eight years has passed since I've see them. Hmm."

"Dante, maybe you'd care to explain. 'Cause you and your weird wolf man there is confused the hell out of the rest of us." Trish said moodily.

The half demon only glanced at her and the other confused two before he shrugged. It was true he hadn't told them of where he went eight years ago and how even came across Zack. He hadn't told them anything, as the matter of fact. He had just kept it to himself and didn't spare a word about other worlds. "All right. But you might want to sit down. This'll take a while. Eight years ago, a woman named Jenova, Jen for short showed up at the Devil Never Cry to hire me for a job. She wanted me to kill a demon named Chaos……." And so he began his story.

Almost an hour and a half later, Dante finished his story about how he met the Chaos Demon, who indeed was living in a kind man, Vincent Valentine. He explained how Jen was actually a tyrant and everything. He told them about Cloud and Avalanche, Jen's true intentions and how he had helped them get rid of their problem.  
"So, I returned here with the help of the infused White and Black materia." He even showed them the silver materia embedded in his mother's old amulet.

"So, this Vincent Valentine, he's a demon like us?" Lucia asked, trying to digest everything. "How strong is he?"

Dante only shrugged as he began to pace again. "He's nearly as strong as me, Luc. Maybe stronger. That Chaos demon is one tough S.O.B." He then nodded. "As for everyone else of the Avalanche group. If there were any I know that could help us, it'd be Avalanche. I know they could and probably would help us. All we have to do is go to the Planet and ask them. We'll tell them our problem and they'll come help us get rid of the demons." He told them.

Lady frowned as she stared at the careless looking Zack, who was lounging against a stone slab before she looked at Dante. "And you expect us to believe that some strange orb can open up an unearthly portal to a whole different world besides Hell?" She asked sarcastically.

"I don't expect you do anything, Lady." Dante said making a face at her. He hated it when she got like this. She was the most impossible out of the group. If she couldn't see it, then she didn't believe it. He touched the amulet resting on his chest. "But I'll show you that it can do that if we decide to go." He then shook his head. "But first we have to decide on when we should go and how long we are going to be at the Planet. We don't know when the demons are going to decide to come out again."

Lucia frowned as she looked at the ground, looking as if she was searching her mind for that answer. "The last time they came out it was five days ago. And it was the same before. They're attacking in a pattern. Five days later after the last attack." She told them, looking around at everyone now. "I suppose we will have five days before they attack again." She announced. Dante slowly nodded. He hoped that was the case. So if he went back to the Planet, he had five days to find Vincent and the Avalanche before the next hordes of demons decided to show up. That did give him a little time. But still, to leave the Hell Gates unwatched wasn't smart. There was a good chance that one of the demons might stick their heads out to see if it was clear or not. "The only thing we need to worry about is who goes and who stays. I know for a fact that if we left the Hell Gates unattended, the demons will show up."

Trish nodded as she stood up and folded her arms. "You got a point. We will have to decide who stays and who goes. I guess I can say I can stay. I'm strong enough to hold them back. But you'll have to go, Dante. This Valentine knows you so he probably trusts you." She told him.

Both Lady and Lucia nodded as they both stood. "She's right. You go." The black haired beauty said. "I'll stay too. I've got the big guns while she has the big power." Then Lady turned her amber colored eyes onto Lucia. "Lucy, you should go too. He could use some help staying out of trouble." She said with a smirk. The other two women and Zack smiled while Dante eyed her dully. "Oh, thanks. I'm glad you trust me that much." He paused as then smirked at her. "Mary."

"Shut up!" Lady snapped. "Don't call me that! You know I hate that name, Dante!"

Dante only laughed while waving a hand at her. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Don't get so technical." He then turned his icy gaze onto Zack. "So, Zack. Going or staying?" He asked. He couldn't care less if Zack went or stayed. It might help if he did go. In his wolf form, he could sniff out Cloud and the others.

As if he read his mind, Zack stood up and hooked his thumbs onto his suspenders. "Going. It's been eight years since I've seen my old pal, Cloud. Besides, who knows where they are. I can find them as a wolf."

Dante nodded as he turned to his female friends, touching the amulet at his neck. "Well then. Let's get going. We have five days to get to the Planet, find Valentine and his pals, convince them to come help us out here and then get back here before the demons come back out of Hell." He told them. "So, I guess we better get started." He rose his free hand away from them and concentrated on the power of the Silver materia.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder and a very strong breeze picked up all around the five. The women were startled while the men were relaxed. The two were actually used to stuff like this. Before them, electric ripples began to swirl in the air, swirling round and round like a cyclone. And before them, the portal opened. It was swirling like a aerial maelstrom with only little sparks sparking up now and then. But unlike maelstroms, tornados or any kind of swirling storm, it was on its side, facing the Demon Hunter and his comrades.

"Well, here we go." Dante said as he looked at Trish and Lady. "You two going to be okay? If it gets too rough back here, just hide. The 1000 surviving people of this world are across the ocean, so they should be safe until we get back."

"We'll be fine, Dante." Trish tried to reassure him, though she was trying to convince herself too.

Lady nodded in agreement as she leaned against her Kalina-Anne. She didn't look too sure that it was going to be all right, but then again, she didn't care. As long as she got to fight. "Just get out of here, Dante. Hurry it up and find Vincent Valentine. We'll be just fine."

Dante nodded slowly as he looked back at Lucia and Zack. He didn't want to leave Trish and Lady in such danger but he knew that he had no choice. They needed help to stop all of these demons and find a way to close the Hell Gate. "Well, let's head out. Time's ticking away." He told the angelic woman and the wolfman. Lucia and Zack both nodded before they turned with Dante and rushed towards the portal. All three jumped right into the swirling portal, vanishing right away.

"Good luck, guys." Trish said as she watched the portal disappear once they had entered. But then her eyes flickered over to the Hell Gates, which started to glow an even more fiery red as loud roars came from within. It sounded like the demons were celebrating. "And hurry."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! I know you're all just dying to find out what happens! And believe me, a lot does happen. In both one the Planet and Dante's world! There are threats in both worlds that you are not going to believe!  
Like this chapter for one. You will find out exactly where Dante, Lucia and Zack lands and they get a pretty good look at what's threatening the Planet now. Not to mention, Dante gets into a minor fight in this chapter. **

**Read and Review, okay?**

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Time To Hunt Again 

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two 

The Nibel Mountains was tall and silent as ever, with snowy patches here and there all over the rocky terrain. The low clouds slowly drifted along the thin pathways, and swirled around the old Mako Reactor, where there was a light breeze starting to pick up. Because of the shift in the air, a few fluffy clouds began to swirl with the breeze before there was a loud crack in the air. The portal let out a thunderous boom before it appeared out of the air.  
Dante had not been expecting the portal to just open up anywhere. He had been sure that it would have opened up near the Forgotten City like it had eight years ago, when he first visited. So that was a change once he and his two friends came out. The only thing that didn't change was the landing.

As soon as the portal opened, Dante, Lucia and Zack were nearly thrown out across the rocky terrain, almost as if they had just been shoved out of an angered someone's house. They landed on their feet all right, but Dante nearly was thrown onto his face if he hadn't caught himself in time.

Lucia, however, was the only one who landed gracefully, for she had quickly transformed into her angelic-demon form and spread out her wings to slow her fall, which worked soon enough. She just flittered to the ground as graceful as ever.

"Damn it! I hate those landings!" Dante growled as he pushed himself back to his feet and brushed off his clothes. Then he looked at Zack, who had transformed back into his wolf form as soon as he was in the clear. The wolf was wagging his tail and smiling, almost looking like he was laughing at Dante. The half demon gave him a look for it. "Laugh it up, dude. Keep laughing and I'll turn you into wolf stew."  
Zack the wolf rolled his eyes before he sniffed the air and took in their surroundings to see where they were. Then he trotted over to a cliff side and looked off into the horizon. Dante and Lucia, of course, joined him in looking around. The cliff they were on was overlooking a vast valley of rocky hills and crevices with twisting and turning pathways. They were so high that they could almost see everything. Even the ocean in the far distance, which looked like it was on fire because of the sunset. So it was clearly evening here when they arrived. It was a beautiful sight though.

Even Lucia had to openly admit it. "Oh." She sighed. "It's so beautiful. So this is the Planet? What a wonderful place." She even looked like she was swooning.

Dante just frowned as he looked around the area, not recognizing this place at all. He couldn't see any cities at all. This did not looked like the world he knew. He couldn't even see Midgar City. So where in the world were they?

"Hey, Zack!" He called turning to the wolf. "You know where the hell we are?"

The wolf, of course, did not answer as he glanced around, looking up at the Mako Reactor. He didn't look too pleased to be there but without a word, of course, he began to move down a path, pausing to make sure that Dante and Lucia were following. The two only glanced at one another before they quickly followed after him. They weren't going to bother asking where he was taking them. He knew where they were going, so they were just going to follow.

Hours seemed to pass and it was well after dark by the time they got anywhere. They had walked along the rocky roads, through dark caverns before they found a pathway entering a small town not far from the rocky hills. This town Dante didn't recognize either. But Zack sure seemed to. He looked a little excited and his tail was wagging again as he trotted up to a sign and then pawed at it. Dante and Lucia walked up to it and read the words carved in the wood.

Nibelhiem

Dante frowned at the word but he did recognize it. He remembered that Vincent Valentine and Tifa Lockhart had told him about this place. This had been Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth's birthplace. It had been their hometown.  
"….I wonder if Cloud and Tifa are here then." The Demon Hunter said wonderingly. He looked around the road they were on before walking on. Lucia and Zack followed him, looking around cautiously. There weren't too many people out on the streets and any who were noticed Dante right away. As soon as they saw him, they grew very afraid and rushed into their homes. It looked like they were terrified of him.

But Dante knew why. "Great." He muttered under his breath. "They think I'm Sephiroth again."

Lucia looked puzzled at that but continued to look around as she walked beside her friend. "Why? I thought Sephiroth was dead. Why would they think you were him?" She asked in her sweet voice.

Dante shook his head as he reached up and tugged a strand of his white hair. "My hair. It's a pale color. They're not used to people with hair like mine. Sephiroth and his younger brothers, Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz had silver hair. Mine's white but it's not much of a difference." He informed her. And they just kept walking.

Eventually, they came across the gates of a large ruined mansion, which was almost as dark as the night. It wasn't much of a building anymore. The walls were nearly collapsed and it looked like there was a tree growing out of the side. There was some graffiti on the walls though. Dante couldn't help but stop outside the gate and look up at the mansion with wonder. There was something about this house. He could almost sense something about it. This had to be the Shinra Manor that Tifa had told him about. This was where it had all started. This was where Sephiroth had been born and this was where he pretty much died when he found out that he was nothing but a mad man's experiment.

"Hold up." The white haired Demon Hunter said as he pushed the broken gate aside. "I want to check this place out."

Zack, however, moved forward and blocked his path, giving him a serious look. He was shaking his head as if telling Dante to not go in there. He didn't like this at all. But Dante shrugged as he went around the wolf. "Relax, Zack. I just want to check it out. It's not going to hurt, is it?" He asked as he walked right up to the heavily damaged doors. Lucia frowned as she followed after Dante, with a very hesitant wolf next to her. She didn't like it anymore than Zack did. "Dante, we don't really have time for this, do we? We are suppose to be looking for the Valentine Demon." She spoke up on Zack's behalf.

Dante only shook his head as he walked straight through the doors. "I know. He could be here though. He said this was once the place he lived for thirty years. He could have came back here." He told her. Lucia silently disagreed.

The inside of the Shinra Manor was worst than the outside. There were debris everywhere and vegetation were growing everywhere. Bricks in the wall were scattered everywhere and it looked like there had been a recent fight not too long ago. There was dried blood on the floorboards, but it could barely be seen by the moonlight glowing through the large hole in the roof. It was nothing but a mess.

Dante, Lucia and Zack looked around the house as they walked over the debris and shrubbery. "Damn. Talking about a mess. This place should be condemned." The Half Demon said with amusement. He glanced at Lucia when she grabbed his arm, to keep him from going anywhere further into the house. "Well, it probably is, Dante." The beautiful red head said as she nodded towards the door. "We should leave. The air in here feels evil. There is much wickedness here."

"Hold your horses, Lucy." Dante told her, shrugging her off. "I can sense it too but I still want to look around."

Without a word, he began to look around the first floor, looking in each room or what was left of them. Lucia was hesitant but she followed nonetheless with a forlorn Zack in tail. Finding nothing in interest, they went up the old stairwell and tried to look around the second floor. It was then Dante spotted the old secret stairway that went down to the basement of the house. Very interested, he went down.  
The three travelled in silence through the many dark corridors of darkness and found only a few things of interest. There were footprints in the thick dust covered ground and it looked like someone had been here indeed. Dante figured that it was probably Vincent so he kept looking. Then he noticed dried blood on the wall. That was disturbing indeed. And they didn't look too old. So there had been a fight here. But who had made this mess?

Finally, after going down a long, curving hall, they found the secret library. It was very dark down in the basement and there were years of dust and dirt every where. But as Dante, Lucia and Zack walked, they began to feel a very eerie feeling in the air. There was something there. Especially in the old ruined library. Dante didn't like that feeling at all and it made him place his hands on Ebony and Ivory, ready to pull them. He saw Lucia tense too and heard Zack starting to growl.

"We're not alone." The red haired beauty said in a low voice as she slowly pulled out her hand blades.

Dante slowly nodded as he took a few testing steps to the middle of the room, slowly looking around. "I know. I can feel it too." He muttered before he turned his eyes towards a one of the halls. For a brief second, he thought he saw movement in the next room. Quickly he waved Lucia towards the wall as he moved too. Both quickly moved to the bookshelf, leaning against it, waiting.  
A long moment passed before Dante decided to check it out. He motioned for Lucia and Zack to just wait where they were as he slowly moved along the wall to the hallway. He knew that there was something here. But who and what was it? He knew if it had been Vincent or the others, they would have said something or came looking when he and Lucia had spoke. Not to mention, the half demon wouldn't have been feeling the threat in the air.  
Dante was now at the corner of the bookcase, peering carefully around the corner into the hall and into the next room. But he still couldn't see anything. He couldn't see what he had seen before. There was nothing there.

"Dante." He heard Lucia whisper and he tilted his head towards her, still not taking his eyes off the other room. "….your amulet. It's glowing."

Dante frowned to hear that before he looked down at the amulet resting against his chest and saw that the Silver material indeed was glowing. It didn't like it was threatening though. It was giving off a gentle pulse, like a heartbeat. There was a warm sensation coming off of it. But why was it glowing? Was there a purpose? Dante frowned as he stepped back away from the bookshelf and to his surprise, the light dimmed. "What the hell?" He muttered before stepping back towards the bookshelf and it brightened. He looked along the bookshelf before spotting a dust covered book near where he was. With a frown, he reached out and took it, noting how that his amulet gave a gentle pulse of light before going dark again. Dante just brushed the dust off the book, seeing that it was a black leather bound book. There were no writing on the cover but what about inside? So he opened it and looked at the cover. There was writing there.

_The Scientific Secrets of Professor Hojo._

That name, Dante realized, he had heard before. It was the name that Vincent had given him long ago.

Suddenly, Dante heard a humming sound, something he heard every time a Hell portal opened up and a demon would jump out to attack. It was coming from behind him and he heard Lucia shout him a warning as she yanked out her hand blades. The half demon jerked around, looking up at the red ring on the ceiling as a demonic creature was starting to drop right out of it. His teeth clenched tight as his other hand swiftly grabbed the hilt of his Rebellion sword, ready to slice this creature in half once it touched the ground. He didn't know how in the hell demons got here but it was going to be Hell first before he let them make the Planet like his world.

But before the demon even touched the ground, there was a flash of silver as a blade shot forward and stabbed it right in the side, pinning it right into the wall with a loud thud. Seconds later, the demon burst into flames and was gone with ashes.

Dante quickly tilted his head to the side to see who was holding the blade, which was strangely very long. It was almost five feet long and sharp looking. But it wasn't just the sword that worried Dante. It was who was holding it. The man had come out from nowhere, or at least that was what it felt like. He was a very tall man, wearing all black, including a black cloak with a hood pulled up. But they could see a pair of eerie green eyes glinting out from under the hood.

This, Dante realized, was the source of their eerie feelings.

The Half Demon stepped back away from the blade still stuck in the wall, watching the intruder cautiously. He didn't like this at all. This man had something dangerous about him. He carefully slid the black book into one of his pockets while the other one lowered onto one of his guns. "Who are you?" He asked suspiciously. He glanced at Zack who was still growling, looking almost threatening. The wolf did not trust this dark man at all, he could tell.

"Hmm." The tall man hummed as he pulled his long sword out of the wall and slid it away. He moved towards Dante, who didn't move at all, but pulled out Ivory and aimed it at him, giving him a daring look to move closer. The man seemed to smile because he made an amused sound before he reached up and lowered the hood to reveal himself. And when he did, Dante felt as if there had been a knife pressed against his throat. The man had long black and silver hair running down to his lower back with long bangs hanging over his eerie green eyes.

"I am, Stranger, the deeply feared and respected Sephiroth." The man spoke in a low voice.

Hearing that name, Dante felt as if ice had been dumped down his shirt. He was wondering if he just heard right. Did this man just say that he was that silver haired tyrant that Cloud and supposedly killed years ago? His surprise was clearly evident and even Lucia looked surprised to hear that name. She knew that name by what Dante said about him.

"Sephiroth." Dante said narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. He then made a quick glance at Zack to see what his reaction was, and noted that his fur was bristled. The wolf's tail was curled between his legs and he was cringing back as if afraid and Dante knew that he was. He was not liking this at all. So the half demon looked back at the so called Sephiroth again. "If I didn't know better, aren't you suppose to be dead? A memory that haunts this world?"

Sephiroth smirked coolly as he found Dante's remark amusing. The look on the silver haired tyrant's face was too creepy. Even to Lucia. She was moving closer to Dante, a shiver running up her back. "Dante….." She muttered nervously.

"I will never be a memory." Sephiroth said coldly. "So your name is Dante Are you a follower of mine? You surely look like me. At least you have pale hair. So you must be a remnant……."

Dante's eyes narrowed and he cocked the hammer back on his gun, giving him a warning. "I am not a Sephiroth remnant jackass." He spoke in a very cold tone. "And I am not like you at all. In fact, I'm against you. If you've returned to end the Planet's life, guess again. I won't let you hurt these people." He hissed through gritted teeth.  
Sephiroth didn't seem to like that remark. He narrowed his deadly eyes, glaring at Dante for his words. "You have no idea who you are speaking to, who you are dealing with, human."

"Neither do you, Sephiroth." Zack spoke as he stood up. "And he's not human."

Spehiroth and Dante turned their heads to look at the deadly look on Zack's face to see that he had taken one of Lucia's hand blades from her and was holding it in a fighting stance. The silver haired tyrant however looked very interested, yet annoyed. "Zack Fair. What a surprise. I was under the impression that you were dead." He said trying to sound amused as he turned towards him.

Zack just narrowed his eyes at Sephiroth, baring his teeth a little. "That goes the same for you, Sephy. But it looks to me that you're alive." He then tilted his head to the side as he eyed Sephiroth's hair. "Though, since when did you have silver and black hair?"

Again Sephiroth smirked as he flickered his eyes upward as if trying to see his hair before looking back at the black haired fighter. "Oh, this? Well to be honest, I am using another man's body. Just like I used my remnant's body. Like Kadaj, the man I'm using was an experiment of Hojo's from years ago. It was only a matter of time before his body was activated and I was allowed to use it." He just smirked coldly at Zack. "And soon enough, I will have a nice visit with Cloud. I still owe him dearly for killing me, twice."

"Leave him alone, Sephiroth." Zack hissed at him, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You've done enough to him! Why don't you just leave him alone and mess with me instead?!" He asked snapping into a fighting stance.

Sephiroth just smiled his dangerous smile as if he found this very amusing and annoying at the same time. "Enough? No. I'm still not satisfied with everything I've done to him so far. I want to mess with him because he's the one who even stood a chance against me. You, on the other hand, could not defeat me at all, Zack. You, who were weaker than a 3rd class brat. I have revealed myself to Cloud once, so he knows I'm alive. But I will be going back to cause him a lot of pain. I will take everything he ever treasures and destroy it. Of course, if I wasn't wrong, he treasures everything, doesn't he? So I will take everything from him. His girlfriend, the children, everyone and thing."

**BAM!!**

Two bullets shot from the guns in Dante's hands and sped towards Sephiroth. Dante had heard enough. He was getting more and more teed off from what this tyrant was saying. He had had enough to listening to this monster complaining about how Cloud Strife had killed him twice. And even more, he had enough of listening to every threat he was promising. The half demon refused to let this vile creature hurt his friends.  
But as the bullets sped towards Sephiroth, everything seemed to slow down. He could see everything move in slow motion now as the bullets let off rippling waves, almost like a matrix style. The bullets were move too slow now.  
And to Dante's utter shock, Sephiroth just simply lifted his hand and plucked the bullets right out of the air and then dropped them onto the ground. Only then, did everything return to normal.

"Challenge….." The black and silver haired tyrant said as he smirked dangerously at an alarmed Dante. "…..Accepted."

There was a blurring flash as Sephiroth moved, yanking his long sword out and starting to swing at Dante, who only stepped back in alarm. He barely even saw Sephiroth move. It all was just a blur to Dante. The thing he did see was the silver blade swinging at his head.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of green light and the Masamune blade struck something other than Dante's head. Between the three and the tyrant there was a thick, light green force field protecting Dante, Lucia and Zack. And standing before them was shockingly, Aeris. She was glaring at Sephiroth fiercely before she whirled around and gave Dante an alarmed look. "Run! Dante, Zack! Take Lucia and run!"

"Ah, let him through, Aeris! I can take him!" Dante said his teeth gritting tight.

Aeris winced when Sephiroth pulled back his sword and swung at her again, only to clang loudly against her shield. "No, Dante! You can't! You didn't even see him more, remember?! This is not your every day demons! This is not Jen! This is Sephiroth and he's ten times stronger than Virgil!" She yelled at him.

Zack nodded as he turned and started to run, only pausing to grab both Dante and Lucia, pulling them after him. "Just run, Dante! She knows what she's talking about! Now lets go!" he yelled as he ran as fast as he could through the dark corridors. So Dante and Lucia had no choice but to quickly follow after him. They had their legs pumping as hard as they could as they could. They didn't even need to look behind them to see what that huge crash was.

For the insane laughter of Sephiroth sounded pretty close behind them.

"Dammit!" Dante yelled as he reached up and yanked Rebellion out of its sheath. He noted the stone beams that seemed to be keeping the ceiling from collapsing on them and came up with an idea. As he ran, he slashed at the beams, cutting them in half. There was a loud rumble from above as the underground corridors began to shake violently and small debris began to fall from above.

"Dante! What are you doing?! Do you want to kill us all?!" Lucia screamed at him.

The Half Demon just shoved her to go faster as a large stone chunk nearly hit her. They were quickly approaching the stairwell they had come down in the first place. "Just run, dammit!" He yelled at her before he heard the sound of metal sliding against metal. His eyes widened as he realized what it was. So he spun around, catching himself against the door frame and held up the Rebellion to shield himself.

There was a loud clang as metal met metal and then Dante felt pain slice right into his right shoulder, too close to his chest. He just grunted in pain as his head fell forward for a second before he quickly looked up into the glittering eyes of Sephiroth. "Heh, I got you." Sephiroth said coolly as he lowered his glowing gaze down to his sword.  
Dante held in his pain as he glanced down to see that Sephiroth's Masamune had cut right through Rebellion and sliced right into his chest. He wasn't sure how the hell that happened but it had. And for some reason, the healing crystal on his amulet was not lighting up. It was as if it wasn't working.

"Dante!" Zack yelled as he and Lucia were already halfway up the stairs before they noticed that Dante had not been with them. They had seen what was happening between the two. And they could see Sephiroth's blade protruding from Dante's back. "Dammit!" Zack gasped as he was already making his way down the stairs.

Sephiroth looked over Dante's shoulder at him before he smirked. "Ah. Looks like I'll have to kill him after all."

"I don't think so!" Dante hissed between his teeth before he yanked out his shot gun and slammed the nozzle against Sephiroth's own chest. "Leave him the hell alone!" And he blasted the silver and black haired tyrant away from him. The force of the blast sent him staggering back right into the shaking corridor and the sword was yanked right out of Dante, making him wince.

Without another word, Dante swung Rebellion against the door frames to make them collapse before he turned and ran right up the stairs, pushing Zack and Lucia up them. "Come on! We don't have all day!"

And he was right.

The entire house was shaking and rumbling as it started to collapse. The floorboards were giving out right under the fleeing three's feet as they ran as fast as they could through the rooms and leaped down the stairs, stumbling as the floor gave out under them. Dante cursed as he grabbed Lucia's arm when she fell to the ground and helped her stand up. Zack had to kick the front doors open so they could get out faster, sending them off the hinges. All three burst out of the house into the night as the house continued to collapse behind them.  
But at least they were well across the street, away from the house. They watched as the walls if the house began to fall inward and sending dust flying up into the air with a loud rumble. Moments later, all was still. The house was completely in ruins. It was nothing more than a large pile of rubble with only one wall still standing.

"Hah. Let's see you live through that." Dante remarked as he smirked.

Both Zack and Lucia gave him a very dry look as if he was very stupid for even saying that. "Dante," The black haired warrior said shaking his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if he did live through that. Sephiroth is too strong to be killed by dropping a mansion on top of his head."

Dante just grinned as he stretched his arms, not even noting the blood now spilling down his chest. "I hope he does. Next time, I'll personally kill him." His eyes snapped wide open when he finally felt the pain in his chest and dropped Rebellion while trying to clap a hand over his chest. "Ow!" He cried out, collapsing to one knee.

Lucia and Zack gave him an alarmed look before they were quickly by his side. The red haired beauty gasped to see so much blood on his front now. "Oh! Dante! You are hurt!" She cried out as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell?!" Dante hissed as he pulled his hand back and looked down at the wound. It was pretty bad, he could see that. He shook his head as he touched his amulet to activate the healing stone but to his surprise, it only let of a mild glow and a tingle. It was healing way too slow. "What the…..! It's not…..it's not working!" he suddenly felt very dizzy from the blood loss and nearly face planted into the road if Zack hadn't caught him.  
"It's the wound that Sephiroth gave you." Zack said rather calmly but there was a tinge of worry in his eyes. "He got you with Masamune. That sword is a very powerful weapon and usually whatever it cuts, you can't heal that wound." He shook his head. "Luckily for you, you've demon blood inside you. You will heal but it'll be pretty slow."

Dante winced, now somewhat panting as he felt more and more dizzier. He was losing too much blood right now. And what was worst, he was starting to see the darkness creeping up on him. "Ah, holy hell! Guys, I way out of it!" He said and then he really was. He fell right into the blackness of unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! I know, I know. Sephiroth being back doesn't look good. But I'm going to say this, it's not just Sephiroth. It's kind of something else too. But you'll just have to wait and see what it is. In the mean time, in this chapter, there's no fight, but news reaches Avalanche pretty fast, because there is someone that we somewhat like in Nibelhiem right now. Who is it you ask? Well, you're about to find out. **

**Read and Review, okay?**

* * *

Time To Hunt Again 

Chapter Three

* * *

The very minute someone came knocking on his door at this particular hour of the night, he knew something was wrong. Why else would someone come pounding on his door at nearly Three O' Clock in the morning? 

Grumbling, the blonde climbed out of bed, ignoring the woman beside him as she groaned and silently asked him where he was going. All he did was wave at her as if telling her to go back to bed while he yelled at whoever was at his door, to tell them to not bother him so late in the evening. He wasn't really in the mood of finding out what was wrong right now. He had been working too late in the evening on the plans to make Nibelhiem bigger for more people to live at.  
The person outside his door knocked again and he nearly stumbled over the chair he had been sitting at not only three hours ago. "All right! All right! I'm coming! Damn it." Rufus Shinra growled as he ran a hand through his fine blond hair, which was pretty much stuck up every where at the moment. He heard the woman in his bed grumble at him for yelling and he paused to wave a hand at her. "Sorry, Knife." He muttered before pulling the door open and glaring at whoever was behind it.

It was the Inn Keeper and a few of the villagers.

"What?! Do you know what time it is?!" Rufus demanded as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

The Inn Keeper nodded as he bowed to Rufus in respect. "Yes, Mr. Shinra. I told them not to come up here but they really insisted." He told him, glancing at the villages. Rufus just gave the men an annoyed look as he shifted his weight. "What do you want?" He grumbled.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, sir. But the Shinra Mansion collapsed later last night and there's a Sephiroth clone over at the baker's house. He's hurt pretty bad but it's still scaring the baker's family. We thought you'd want to know about it." One of the men said. The other nodded as he glanced nervously over his shoulder as if he could see something there.  
Rufus just blinked at them before he frowned. "A Sephiroth?" He asked and then his face darkened. "Great. More of those damned clones that Hojo created. I thought we got rid of all of those things." He held up a hand. "Give me a moment." He closed the door and quickly began grabbing his uniform while telling his fiancée to get up.

* * *

Over the past few years, Rufus' identity finally had been revealed after he decided that it was time to stop playing dead and let everyone know that he was actually the CEO for WRO, which stood for World Restoration Organization. He had been writing all of the checks for all the workers while in secret. And no one had known about it until he finally decided to tell Reeve Tuesti.  
It had came a shock that Rufus had done all of that but later on, everyone had been forced to forgive him for doing all that he could to restore his honor and respect from the Planet. And after the fight with the Tsviets and their leader, Weiss, while everything seemed to settle down, Rufus had met his old girlfriend from long before, Knife, who actually had been a Turk at the time. She didn't tell anyone her real name, though Rufus did know it. He just called her Knife because she preferred it more. But Rufus had been mostly the only one in the entire company that knew who knew her real name. It was only in time did they be reunited.

Now, Rufus was not in a good mood as he made his way across Nibelhiem with his bodyguards, the Turks, who were still Reno and Rude. Both Tseng and Elena were on vacation to celebrate their five anniversary, seeing that they were married to each other now. Beside him, the lovely Knife, a black haired and dark eyed woman of 29 was strapping her throwing knives to her belt, keeping her hand on it just in case they were needed.

Reno and Rude hadn't changed very much, other than they were older. Rude was still bald as every and he had grown his goatee even more. Reno, of course, was almost the same. He still had his long red hair, pulled into a messy ponytail and they both still wore the traditional blue uniform of the Turk.  
"So, what do you think it is, huh? You really think it's Sephiroth?" The red head asked with a little excitement. He had been up anyway, having a few drinks so he was ready for a fight.  
Rude just gave him a dull look as he followed Rufus towards the baker's house. "No." was all he said. Reno rolled his eyes and decided to shut up.

The baker's house was on the far side of Nibelhiem and it was lit up full of lights. There were quite a few people standing outside the house looking up at the lit windows. They had heard about the Sephiroth clone and had wanted to see it for their selves. Of course, some were saying that it was too dangerous to be around a Sephiroth clone. But one pointed out that it was already injured and had been knocked out. So it wasn't a threat. This was more preferred to Rufus as he entered the house, glancing around.

"All right. Where is it?" The Ex-President of Shinra asked as he was handling his shotgun.

The Baker and his wife pointed towards the stairs. "He's upstairs, sir. There's a man and a woman with him, trying to get him cleaned up and healed." The man said.

Rufus gritted his teeth as he glanced at Reno and Rude, who looked very serious now. They were pulling out their weapons now as they started their way towards the stairs. Even Knife was pulling out one of hers.

The four of them made their way up the stairs, Rufus in the lead until they entered the second floor and looked around. They saw movement in one of the other rooms before they went over to the door and threw it open. Rufus had his shotgun up and ready to fire at the Sephiroth clone but no sooner, he found a blade aiming right under his chin and a deadly look on a beautiful red haired woman's face. She was glaring at him, daring to fire his weapon.

"Lucy, it's okay. I know who that is." Came a pleasant voice.

Rufus turned his eyes onto who had spoke and to his surprise, it was the black haired man he remembered to be called Zack Fair. Cloud Strife's old friend. And then he noticed exactly who was lying in one of the beds, stripped of his shirt and there was blood all over the bed sheets while there were bandages in the middle of wrapping around his chest.

"What the hell?" Reno muttered as he tilted his head to look at the white haired man who was lying unconscious on the bed. He obviously didn't remember him. "That don't look like any Sephiroth clone I've ever seen."

Rufus frowned as he stared at Dante before his face softened and he shook his head as he looked back at Zack. "That's because he's not a Sephiroth clone at all, Reno. He's a half demon."

* * *

It was well near Dawn when Rufus decided to make the call to Cloud and Tifa's in Edge. He had wanted to know what was going on before he called them and asked for the half demon's pal, Valentine. He learned of who the red haired beauty had been and why Dante was back. Of course, as soon as Reno and Rude remembered who he was, the red head decided to turn his attention to Lucia. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of grinning at her and calling her a "hot and sexy looking babe". And he soon found himself falling down the stairs of the baker's house after she kicked him in the face.

Zack explained to Rufus of who Lucia was and what she was. And that she did not like remarks that she had just gotten from Reno, who returned upstairs nursing a bloody lip and an achy head.

Only then when the sun slowly peer into the window, Rufus made the call, knowing that they were probably up by now. Rufus listened to the phone ring a few times before someone answered. He recognized Tifa's sweet voice immediately and it made him smile. There had only been one time he had been attracted to Tifa and that was almost ten years ago when he first met her, Cloud and the rest of Avalanche. He had admired her beauty until the very time tried to slug him for a remark he made to her about how she was wearing her clothes.

_"Hello. Strife's Delivery Service. You name it, we deliver it."_

Rufus smiled and shook his head as he looked out the window. "Hello, Tifa. It's Rufus." He told her.

_"Hmm? Oh! Hello, Rufus!" _The martial artist said brightly, obviously smiling. _"How are you? Are you still in Nibelhiem?" _

Rufus nodded as if she could see him before his icy blue eyes flickered over to the slumbering Dante on the bed. They had been working on him all night, making sure that the wound in his chest was well dressed and it wasn't bleeding anymore. "Yes. I'm still here. Work here is a big success. But right now, I can't talk about that. Is Vincent Valentine around?" He asked, as he watched Dante breath.

_"Vincent? Oh, well, yes. I suppose he is. He's in the back training with Shelke and Cloud. Should I get him?" _Tifa asked softly.

Again Rufus nodded as if the pretty martial artist could see him and he was sure that she sensed his nod because he heard her open the back door to their house and was calling out for Vincent. "Yes, Tifa. It's pretty important that I spoke to him." He replied anyway. He could almost sense her nod too because her earrings tapped against the phone. He was sure that was what it was.

_"Rufus." _Came the deep, stoic voice of the Ex-Turk.

Rufus finally turned fully towards Dante, his eyes flickering over to Zack who was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the table and Lucia, who was watching Dante with a little concern. It was obvious that she deeply cared for Dante. Other wise she wouldn't be looking at the half demon like that. "Hey, Vincent." He saw both look up with bright eyes, after he said the name. "I think you might want to come to Nibelhiem pretty soon. Something big really happened."

_"What is it? What happened? Did you have a run in with that demon whose been calling himself Sephiroth?"_ Vincent Valentine asked, seriously.

Rufus smirked as he turned his eyes back onto Dante. He moved a step closer and bent over him as he just studied the half demon's face. "No. I didn't. But someone you once knew sure did. He was hurt pretty bad but he's stable now. But he came pretty close to dying last night. Oh!" He stood up straight chuckling. "By the way, the Shinra Mansion is no more. It collapsed on top of the Sephiroth demon's head. And it was your friend, here, who made it collapse."

The CEO of WRO could almost see Vincent frowning as he tried to think of who he was talking about. He knew that it had been way too long since the old man in the young body had seen this Half Demon.  
_"Rufus, don't play games with me." _Vincent spoke dryly. He was annoyed again. Rufus couldn't help but grin at the reaction. He was so easy to annoy nowadays. _"Who is it?" _

"All right. All right. Don't get like that, Vince." Rufus said grinning into the phone. "Remember your old pal, Dante. You know, the half demon."

There was a loud crash, making Rufus yank his ear away from the receiver. He wasn't too sure what that sound was but he heard Tifa ask Vincent if everything was all right. Then he heard the Ex-Turk picking the phone back up from the ground where he had dropped it. _"Dante?! Are you sure it's Dante?!" _

It went very quiet on the other line, other than Vincent breathing.

Rufus just smiled as he looked back down at Dante, seeing him stir a little but it was obvious he was just dreaming and not ready to wake up too soon. "Let me see. The guy's pure white hair and I'm sure his eyes are icy blue, though they're closed right now. He was wearing a red jacket but right now it's hanging up to dry after getting blood all over it. He has two very big swords crisscrossed on the back of it and one of them is sparking up with electric power. And there's an amulet around his neck with three glowing stones. One of them is the Silver materia that he took eight years ago." Rufus paused to look over at Zack. "Hey, Zack Fair. This is Dante, right? The half demon from another world?"

Zack smirked as if calling the blonde man a smartass before he nodded and folded his arms behind his head. "Yup! That'd be him." He said loud enough for Vincent to hear him from where he was sitting. "Oh! And Vincent Valentine! Tell Cloud hi for me and that I'm back!"

_"Hmm." _Vincent sounded amused and he was probably was smirking. _"All right. Cloud, Zack has returned with Dante."_ There were a few voices on the other line before Vincent seemed to turn back to the phone. _"Rufus, we're on our way. We're calling Cid to come pick us up." _

Rufus nodded as if the gunslinger could see him. "All right. We'll be standing by. But I think you better hurry. It's not that Dante's in trouble, though the Sephiroth demon is probably looking for him. But apparently, there's a lot of trouble going on in Dante's world and he's come to get help. You're going to want to hurry quickly." He told the former Turk before he hung up. His blue eyes looked over at Zack, who was standing up. "They're on their way. They should be here either tonight or tomorrow."

Lucia sighed as she went over and knelt beside Dante's bed, taking a wet cloth and dabbed his head with it. "I do hope they hurry. I'm not sure how long Trish and Lady will be able to hold up without Dante or me." She spoke softly.

* * *

Far across the land and across the sea, in the large fraction of Midgar called Edge, Vincent Valentine put the phone down on the hook, pausing to think to himself. He just stood there for a long moment before he turned around and looked at Cloud, Tifa and the young girl, named Shelke, who looked like she was 10 years old.

It was enough to say that over the years, they all had changed. Even the former Turk had, though he was still stuck in a 27 year old body. He was a whole lot more open than he used to be. He might have looked about the same but he had changed emotionally. He was still a very serious and cool sort of guy but he did a lot more smiling than he used to.  
His black hair had finally been cut, though it was still long and falling to his shoulders. And his eyes still held their fiery red appearance. He still favored wearing black and his blood-red cloak, which was off at the moment. He was wearing the same black leather pants from his original outfit, with a three belts around his right leg, the top belt being hooked to his gun's holster. He was also wearing a belt buckle with the symbol of Cerberus engraved in the metal. As for his shirt, he was wearing a with a one long sleeve top, which was pretty similar to what Cloud wore, only his was black and it the right sleeve was long, yet rolled up to the elbow. He wore one black leather glove over his right hand, while he still possessed his golden arm and claws. No longer wearing his golden pointed boots, he was wearing black combat boots. And he still wore his red forehead band.

Cloud and Tifa didn't' look very much different either, only that both of them were wearing rings on their left hands and Tifa looked like she was due to have a baby in several months to come.

"Seems that Dante has finally came back." Vincent spoke quietly before he turned to face his friends.

Cloud smiled and shook his head as he reached up and brushed his long, golden bangs out of his blue eyes. "Hmm. Dante, huh? I didn't think we'd ever see him again. I almost had forgotten about him." He said, his voice had definitely gotten a little deeper. Tifa smiled brightly as she rested a hand on the small bulge of her stomach. She was clearly very happy to hear about Dante once again. "I can't believe he's back. After all these years." She then frowned again seeing a slight serious look in Vincent's eyes. "Vincent, is he all right?"

"I don't think so." Vincent said honestly. "Rufus said that he and Zack ran into the demon that has been pretending to be Sephiroth. Apparently, Dante fought with it and it nearly killed him."

Tifa gasped, covering her mouth. She even stepped back when Cloud did. "Oh no. Don't tell me he was stabbed by that Masamune blade." She said looking at Cloud with worry. Cloud frowned with concern before he quickly moved forward and snatched the phone up. "I'm calling Cid right now. He was suppose to be delivering packages to Icicle Town with Marlene, Denzel and Luke, but I think the deliveries can wait for a while. It's not going to kill anyone."

Vincent moved away from Cloud and over to where his large red cloak was folded over a chair. He didn't like the idea of Dante returning and already getting hurt because of their problem. But then it made his lips curve a little to think of exactly how they were going to explain to the Half Demon how their world was no longer just infested by animalistic monsters, but demons. He wasn't exactly sure how the demon hunter was going to take that.

"Vincent." Shelke spoke up in her cool and smooth voice.

Vincent turned to look at the young girl, who should have actually been 27 this year, yet she was, like him, would never age because of her Mako treatments. She was a more emotional child though. Eight years ago she had been completely emotionless. But after spending so much time with Marlene and Denzel, she learned how to become a more open person. She kept her cool attitude though. She was always as calm as he was. And in a way, they were like family. He was a father figure to her, the only father figure she ever seen.

"Vincent, who is this Dante?" Shelke asked, tilting her head.

The Ex-Turk just looked away, his lips curving again as he pulled on his red cloak. It was true that he had never actually told Shelke about Dante. Neither did anyone else. Well, Marlene might have mentioned him once or twice but Shelke didn't always listen to the girl. "He's an old friend, Shelke." He tilted his head back to her, once he had his cloak back on and the clasps shut. "I'll explain on the way. But in the mean time, I think it's best to get all of your equipment together. Dante is definitely going to have questions about who and what just nearly killed him."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! Anyway, in this chapter, you're going to learn a little of what's been going on in the between years since the first story. Also, it'd probably help a little if you had played Final Fantasy Dirge of Cerberus, 'cause if you hadn't, you won't know a thing about Shelke or what she's about to talk about. **

**Anyway, here's a quick shout out to the few reviewers. **

**Vincent-and-Yuffie-FOREVER: Lol. Thanks and sorry for taking so long. Been just a little busy trying to get this chapter typed up and working on school work. **

**Satanic Park Of Madness: I don't know about that. Sephiroth is a pretty nasty villain, though Virgil is pretty nasty himself. I know that Dante's three lovely ladies aren't usually shown together and that's why I wanted to try something new. I like doing things different you know? As for who Shelke is, and Rufus' new lady, Shelke is a character from Dirge of Cerberus. She's super smart and wicked fast. I really like her. And Rufus' girlfriend, Knife, she is actually a character from FFVII Before Crisis. **

**Anami-Chan: Lol. Yeah, Reno's mostly our comical relief in the story because of the way he is. And believe me, there's going to be more of that coming once he meets Trish and Lady. You'll just have to wait for that part though. **

**Lord Makura: Thank you very much. . I really did try to come up with a new outfit for Vincent. I just thought he needed a new look, after all, he has been using the same look for almost thirty eight odd years now. shrugs**

**pangpond: hmm. I know how you feel, though it is somewhat true in a way. Sephiroth is BAD news when it comes to being an enemy. But then again, there might be a strange twist that will definitely catch everyone off guard. hehehehe. As for Virgil, well...you're just going to have to wait and see. laughs wickedly**

**All righty then! On with the show!**

**Read and Review, okay?**

* * *

Time To Hunt Again

Chapter Four

Darkness. That was all that was around him, all that he felt, all that he could see. Nothing but everlasting darkness, swirling around his arms and curling at his feet. He didn't like it. He could feel the eeriness of the dark, could almost smell it. And it smelled liked blood.

_"Now you've done it." _

The half demon's face darkened when he heard that voice. That was someone he did not want to talk to right now. Nor even listen to, seeing that he'd probably refuse to talk to him. He wasn't even sure why the hell he was dreaming about his twin brother in the first place. He knew it was a dream because he couldn't really move his body, so he knew that he must have been asleep.

In the dream, he was surrounded by darkness, and he couldn't see anything else but himself and his twin, whose back was facing him. He looked about the same before he had become an insane demonic figure. He looked just like Dante, only his hair was cut shorter and finer and he was wearing an icy blue trench coat while Dante's was blood-red. Virgil didn't even turn around, but just tilted his head as if he was looking over his shoulder at Dante. __

"You've nearly gotten yourself killed with your stunt, you know that, right?" 

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Virg." Dante said in a moody way. "What the hell am I seeing you for? You're dead and you're unwanted in my dreams."

Virgil chuckled darkly as he continued to have his back to Dante, but his head turned a little more so that he could see Dante from the corner of his right eye. His eyes were icier than his twin's, whose eyes weren't really that icy at all anyway. _"What makes you sure that I'm the one that you're seeing?" _

There was a sudden flash, making Dante flinch from the bright light before he looked to see the man that had nearly killed him standing before him. He reacted quickly by reaching for one of his swords, only to grasp air. Rebellion and Alastor was not on his back. So he reached for his guns. But they were not there either. He was completely unarmed.

"Damn it." Dante cursed before he tried to back away from Sephiroth. He knew he could not fight him without any weapons. But for some reason, his body wouldn't respond.

Sephiroth only laughed wickedly as he pulled out his own sword and pointed it at Dante. _"Are you starting to wish that you didn't challenge me yet, Strange Dante? You do realize that I'm still hunting for you, correct? You challenged me, and I will fight you till one of us is dead."_ He took a step towards Dante, who cursed very loudly as he tried to move back but couldn't move at all. It was like he was paralyzed.

However, Virgil suddenly appeared again, standing in between Dante and Sephiroth. The sight of him seemed to surprise the silver/black haired tyrant. The Half Demon in blue just smirked coldly before pointing his own sword at Sephiroth. _"The thing is about dreams, you can't harm one person even if you tried. And even if you could, do you honestly think that I'm going to let you kill my twin brother?" _He asked with dark amusement. _"He's mine to kill, not yours." _He tilted his head again towards Dante, looking right into his own icy blue eyes. _"Dante, this is a dream, so why don't you just wake your damn ass up." _

Dante just frowned as he tilted his own head before slowly shaking it. "Why are you helping me, Virgil? Dream or not?"

_"Like I just said, I'm saving you for myself. I'm the one who'll kill you. Not this demon. Now wake up. You've got visitors."_ Virgil said still smirking before he spun around and swung his katana at Dante, making him flinch. But instead of being cut, there was a bright flash of white light, blinding the Half demon.

* * *

Dante groaned a little as he started to drift back to reality. The bright light he had seen in his dream was still blinding him and it took a few moments to realize that it was just the morning sun peering through the window onto his face. He groaned again as he held up a sore hand to shield his eyes from the light and that's when he heard the low chuckle from within the room he was in.

"Hmm. Welcome back to the land of the living."

The Demon Hunter frowned before he opened both of his eyes, wincing as more sunlight shone into his eyes and he had to close them again. A second later, he felt a shadow fall on him, blocking the light so he opened his eyes again and looked at who it was; and he was surprised to see him.  
The tall, black haired Ex-Turk just smiled at Dante as he folded his arms and looked down at him. He looked about the same when the half demon had last seen him. He was still tall and dark as every but he did look only a little different, though not by much. Vincent's blood red eyes looked in Dante's icy blue ones as he just stood there by the side of the bed the half demon was on. "I'm glad you're waking up now. You had us a little worried."

"Hm." Dante hummed with amusement before he forced himself up to a sitting position. He couldn't help but rub his head, wincing as he felt a headache coming on. "Vincent Valentine." He then looked around the room, not recognizing it at all. "Where am I and how long have I been out?"

Vincent shook his head as he just watched the half demon with his blood-red eyes. "You're still in Nibelhiem and you've been out for about two days, even." He told him. He then shook his head. "The others are looking in what's left of the Shinra Mansion to see if the Sephiroth demon is still in there. But so far, they haven't found anything. I chose to stay here and inform you of what's going on when you've woken up." He told him. Dante had to frown as he pushed the blankets off of him and he placed his bare feet onto the cool floorboards, his head resting into his hands. But after a moment, he looked at him, seriously. "Sephiroth demon? What do you mean Sephiroth demon?" His eyes then lit up as he remembered the demon in the basement of the mansion. "Vincent, how did you know I was here, anyway?" He asked, frowning.

"Zack and your pretty friend, Lucia." Vincent said quietly. "They explained everything to the others and myself. So we know why you're here and what happened."

Dante just frowned before he looked down at where the wound had been in his chest. It surprised him to see that there was a scar. He had never had a scar before. Usually when his amulet healed him, it left no scars at all. But now, he had one. He reached up and touched the scar, looking puzzled. Vincent seemed to have guessed his thoughts because his red eyes looked at the scar on the half demon's chest. "Masamune. Sephiroth's sword. It leaves a scar on anyone it cuts, no matter how well you've been healed."

"Great." Dante said bitterly as he ran his hand over the scar before he forced himself to his feet and went over to his shirt and his red trench coat folded on the chair and hanging up. "Damn Sephiroth." He then looked at Vincent, frowning. "Vincent, you said Sephiroth demon. What the hell is going on? Why are there demons here? Wasn't that guy Sephiroth?" He asked. Vincent shook his head as he turned to keep his eyes on the half demon. "That wasn't Sephiroth. Not officially anyway. We still don't know too much about him, only scattered information and that's all. As for the demons...well, that's a little hard to explain without Shelke. We'll have to go to the Shera to inform you of everything." He told him quietly.

Dante just frowned as he pulled his shirt back over his head. "Well, then let's get going. I want to know what the hell's going on." He smirked at Vincent with mild amusement. "I can see you've changed a little. You're actually smiling. If I remember last, you didn't do much smiling back then. How're you doing anyway?"

"Hmm." Vincent said smiling, his head lowered a little. "I am well. Things have truly changed since you last were here. I have changed a great deal since our last encounter. And there have been a few happenings that have changed me." He told him.

Dante snorted as he gave him a side glance, his white bangs falling over his icy blue eyes. "Like the Sephiroth thing?"

Vincent slowly nodded as he looked directly into the half demon's eyes. "Yes. Sephiroth is one of those things. But there is so much more." He looked away as he tried to think of what he was going to say. But then he nodded. "You might want to come with me. I'll fill you in with everything." He told him as he slowly made his way towards the door. Dante paused as he pulled on his red trench coat and then grabbed all of his things. Once he had them on, he followed Vincent, matching is long strides. "So, where is everyone? How'd you know Zack, Lucia and I were here?"

"Rufus Shinra." Vincent said quietly, his arms still folded under his red cloak. "He was stationed in Nibelhiem, trying to expand the living area for more people to come here. He's become quite an asset to Avalanche. He's been in charge of building onto the town and he has been here for about a year in a half." He turned a little to look at Dante. "He found out that you were here, injured so he called us and here we are. As for everyone else, as I said, they're looking for Sephiroth."

Dante narrowed his eyes at the ground as they left the house they were in and headed towards the boundaries of the Nibelhiem. He was letting everything settle in his mind of what Vincent just said. He wasn't too sure what was going on. But soon enough he would have his answers. He would just have to wait till they met with this Shelke person. Whoever that was. He would find out soon enough.

As he walked with Vincent, he became very aware that they were approaching something. So he looked forward, only to freeze.

Before the two stood a massive, metallic ship. It was bigger than any of the buildings of the town. Though Dante had never seen an airship before, the Shera was almost the same as it had been first built. The propellers were slowly revolving around and around, but not enough to make it take off. The entire structure was made out of metal, with the cockpit having glass windows, of course. It was just sitting on the ground, waiting for the passengers to return and the ramp was still down.

"What in the hell?" Dante asked breathlessly as he looked the ship over.

Vincent turned around, smiling when he saw how amazed his half demon friend was. He knew for a fact that Dante had never seen an airship before, nonetheless road one. So this was probably going to be an entertaining ride for him. "That's the Shera. Cid built her right after the Meteor crisis, due to that the Highwind had been destroyed. It's named after his wife, Shera." He turned and started walking again. Dante only hesitated before following.

When they boarded the ship, Dante could only look around at the metallic walls with interest and amazement. He had known about airplanes and such but he had never known anything about airships like this one. He walked beside Vincent, looking around with wonder before seeing a couple of young women talking to one another nearby. No one that Dante knew, of course. But he couldn't help but grin when he saw how tight their pants were. The girls noticed him looking at them and they giggled to one another as he passed by with a smirking Vincent Valentine.

"Oh yeah. I can definitely get used to this." Dante said tilting his head around to look at the girls again before he followed Vincent again.

Vincent just chuckled and shook his head. He found Dante's reaction rather amusing as they passed by a few more girls like the ones before. "If you think they are lovely, Dante," He began quietly before looking at the white haired half demon. "Wait till you see Marlene."

Dante's eyes widened at the name and he instantly remembered the little girl he used to care deeply for eight years ago. It had been a while since he last thought about her, though she had crossed his mind several times throughout the years. He wondered how she was doing now and where she was. She must have been at least 15 or 16 years old now. "Marlene," He paused thoughtfully. "How is that sweet little girl? It's been eight years since I've last seen her."

"Oh. She's doing just fine. She's actually here right now." Vincent said smirking again as he folded his arms across his chest. Dante smiled as he looked up at the slightly taller man. "Oh really? Where's she at? I'd like to see her, if we have the time." He told the Ex-Turk.

Vincent only nodded as he started up another corridor of the airship, moving through the metal halls. "She's in the cockpit, probably helping Cid fix something. She's become quite the mechanic on the Shera." He said to Dante. Dante just smiled as he looked thoughtfully up at the ceiling. So he was going to get to see Marlene again. And she was a mechanic now. That sweet little girl. She probably was almost the same as she was last time. So sweet and innocent. He wondered why in the world a sweet girl would be a mechanic though. He had always figured her as a story teller or a flower girl like Aeris Gainsborough had once been. It just made him shrug. He would ask the girl later when he saw her.

"Oh." Dante paused looking at Vincent as he realized what he said. "What's a cockpit?"

Vincent only smiled slyly at him as he approached a large metallic door, pressing his hand on a small button. The door whooshed to the side, revealing the room on the other side of it. Again, Dante was taken by surprise.

The room was clearly the largest room out of the ship. It was mostly a large round room, with glass windows making most of the walls. There were a few people sitting at control panels, typing in the keyboards or shouting information across the room to another person. No one looked at Dante and Vincent as they entered. There was a large panel in the middle of the room as well, looking very much like a crystal figure of the world. Lights were swirling around it, pinpointing certain areas.

"Oh, wow." Dante said as he walked forward, looking around and mostly out the window to see the green fields and the town. It was quite a nice sight. "This is amazing."

Vincent just smiled as he joined him in looking out the window. "This is the cockpit of the Shera. It's where Cid flies this bucket of bolts." He told him. He turned around though when there was a cry of outrage from behind them. Dante even turned around to see who was yelling now.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you be insulting my baby, Vinnie! If you don't like this bucket of bolts, why don't you just fly yourself!" The gruff blonde pilot himself shouted before he looked at Dante and grinned. "Well, it's about time you woke up, you lazy demon. Glad to see you won't be joining the dead six feet under." He said waving. Dante just smirked up at Cid Highwind as he moved towards the platform, where the helm was kept. He just looked up at the pilot, giving him a nod of greeting. "Good to see you too, Cid. It's been a while." He told him.

"Hell yeah, it's been!" Cid said as he leaned against the railing, looking down at Dante. "Eight damn years! That's how worried we've been about ya. And now you come poppin' outta nowhere just like those demons did." He told him. 

Dante now frowned as he looked thoughtfully away, finally noticing a young ten year old girl now talking silently to Vincent. He didn't know who that was. She was definitely someone he didn't know. He wondered who she was. Could she be related to one of the Avalanche members? "Speaking of which, what's going on here? Vincent said that the Sephiroth that nearly killed me wasn't Sephiroth, but a demon. So what in the hell is he if he's not that jackass?" The half demon asked moodily.  
A few eyes turned onto him, one being the girl's. She finally decided to move forward and reply. "He is one of the last experiments that Professor Hojo worked on before he was killed." She spoke in a very calm voice. It nearly surprised Dante on how calm she really was. No kid her age could be as calm as she was.

"Dante," Vincent said, moving with the girl, his hand on her shoulder. "This is Shelke. She is our Intelligence Officer. She runs most of the machines on the Shera, including the computers."

Dante tilted his head, looking her over. He was just a little confused by this girl. If she was the Intelligence Officer, she must have been one smart kid. She looked a little young to be able to run all of the computers like Vincent just said she did. "Exactly, how old is she? 10, 11?" He asked, skeptically.

Vincent just smiled shaking his head while the girl, Shelke looked annoyed. He patted her on the shoulder as if to tell her to keep her cool. "She's 27 years old, Dante. But like me, she's stuck in a young body." He nodded at the surprised look on Dante's face. "I'll explain about her later. But for now, listen to her. She has all of the information that you need." He looked to Shelke. "Shelke, upload the information on the demons, Omega WEAPON and on Sephiroth. Dante needs to know everything."

Shelke nodded before she raised her arm, showing Dante that she was wearing some kind of machine on it. It took him a second to realize that it was a mini computer. She began typing at the small keyboard, pushing a few buttons before it began to glow a dull green. "Uploading the SND." She spoke in her calm voice again before she pushed another button.  
The dull green light practically exploded from the mini computer, spreading out all around the room. Dante had to step back in surprise when he watched the room practically become a hologram. What he saw was darkness at first, but he could see the people outside the hologram though. A second later, more images began to flash into view and the room changed. Before him, stood the massive city of Midgar, only in a small image for him. In the center of the building, was a giant creature that he had never seen before. It looked like he was made out of metal but he wasn't entirely sure.

"Omega. The ultimate weapon of destruction and life." Shelke spoke again. "Eight years ago, he was awakening, ready to end the life on the Planet and to take flight to the stars to create a new world." She paused as the images changed, revealing Omega getting beaten by Vincent's demon, Chaos. "It was only then did Chaos put him back to sleep, returning with the Planet's destructor to the Lifestream."

Dante only frowned as he folded his arms. "Okay. But what does this Omega thing have to do with demons? How did they get here?"

Vincent shook his head as he placed a hand on the Demon Hunter's shoulder. "Let Shelke explain, Dante. But either way, you're not going to like it." He told him. Dante only frowned before looking at Shelke again.

Shelke nodded as she pressed another button and a blood-red Hellgate appeared before them. It was spilling out only a few demons, mostly looking very interested of where they were going. It was like they were curious of this place before they began to wreck havoc. "From what information I have gathered, this dimensional portal opened up eight years ago, yet the demons did not come through the portal until after Omega was destroyed. They had sensed the great power of Omega and therefore came to see what had created such power. They discovered the portal and began coming through."

Still, Dante looked confused.

"Dante," Vincent said carefully. "When you came here eight years ago under Jen's orders to kill me and Chaos, your presence here opened up a Hellgate. The demons' dimensional gateway followed you here. It wasn't you who opened it though. It was Jen. When she first went to get you and then brought you back here, she opened the Hellgates without realizing what she had done it. The demons didn't come here until after they sensed Omega's presence here and then its destruction." He shook his head as he folded his arms. "After they started showing up, we did what we could to fighting them off, without realizing that they were demons until Shelke examined one."

Dante just frowned some more before he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn it. All of this because of Jen and me, huh?" he asked. Vincent shook his head as he turned slightly towards him. "It's not your fault, Dante. It was Jen's for even opening up the portal between our worlds. But then again, if it wasn't for you, we would be stuck with Jenova and Marlene would have been killed."

"Yeah but still….." The white haired Demon Hunter was saying.

There was a snort of humor, which sounded all too familiar to Dante. He turned slightly when everyone else did. And to his pleasure, it was Cloud, Tifa, and the others. Zack and Lucia was with them as they moved into the cockpit; all looking relieved to see Dante okay. "It's not your fault, Dante. We don't blame you at all. You were actually a big help." Cloud said before he moved forward and held out a hand to Dante, who immediately took it in greeting. "Dante, it's been awhile."

Dante nodded as he grinned before turning to the others just as Tifa stepped forward and threw her arms around Dante and hugging him tightly. "Dante! We're so glad you're okay!" She said brightly before stepping back. The others just nodded in agreement.

Then the Demon Hunter noticed a young man with them, a young man that resembled too much like Denzel. He was about 18 years old and had short but shaggy brown hair with those stormy blue eyes. He was wearing an outfit that was somewhat similar to what Cloud was wearing. He even had swords hooked onto his back, yet they were smaller than what the blonde Ex-Soldier fought with. But where was Marlene?

"Hey," Dante decided to ask before looking around. "So, where's the kiddo? I haven't seen her yet. I've missed her and have been a little worried about her."

Everyone smiled while Cid threw his thumb over his shoulder to an open hatch behind him. It was somewhat small and not big enough for him to get through. But maybe for a small girl. "She's still in there fixing that damn pipe that busted." The pilot said before he turned around and moved over to the hatch. "Hey, 'Lene! Get out here, girl! Dante's up and he wants to see ya!" 

There was a soft shout from within before there was the sounds of scuffling and someone was trying to climb out.

Dante just glanced at the grins on some of the others' faces and began to wonder why they were smiling like that. But then with a shrug, he looked everyone over. They sure had changed. Yuffie was sure grown up. She had grown her hair just a little longer, long enough to pull up in a wild looking ponytail and she was wearing black shorts and a black halter top much like what she used to wear. As for the others, they didn't look very much different at all.

**THUD!**

The sound of boots landing hard on the metal floor rang throughout the entire room catching Dante's attention. He slowly turned and looked up at Marlene just as she approached the railing; and froze.

The girl standing right next to Cid Highwind did look like Marlene at some extent, but she was more than just grown up. She had Marlene's dark brown hair, pulled back into a tight ponytail with the same pink ribbon she always wore, yet her long bangs hung over honey brown eyes, which were looking directly into Dante's. She was a lot taller than she used to be, almost as tall as Tifa now. And she was now a very beautiful young teen girl. But it wasn't just her looks. It was what she was wearing. Marlene was wearing almost skin tight khaki pants with a black leather belt around her slender waist and she seemed to have taken up sharp shooting because was wearing a pair of nice handguns on her waist. Her top was a deep rosy pink halter top, very much like what Yuffie was wearing. And around her left bicep, she wore another pink ribbon.

If there was any other thing that Dante could say about Marlene Wallace, it was the fact that she was well grown up and very hot.

Marlene just smiled down at the white haired demon hunter, her dirty hands on her waist as she shifted her weight. She could see the surprise on his face. In fact, his mouth had fallen wide open as he just stared wide eyed at her, almost gawking at her. "Hey, Dante. Long time, no see." Even her voice had matured quite a lot. She had definitely grown up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Hey guys. Here's the next chapter you've all been waiting for. You guys are SO not going to like me for this chapter. But it's another fight scene between Dante...and someone else. Anyway,**** read and Review, okay?**

* * *

**Time to Hunt Again  
****Chapter 5**

Dante continued to stare at Marlene as she stood right next to Cid, looking down at him with a smile. She was clearly amused by his reaction. She just continued to stand there, looking at him with her head tilted to the side. And Dante just stared right back at her, clearly in shock that Marlene, the sweet and innocent girl just turned into a very sexy looking teenager. He wondered exactly what was going on through Barret's head if he raised this beauty.

But after a long moment, and Zack nudging his shoulder, Dante snapped out of his stunned thoughts before smirking as he looked her over. "Damn, Marlene. Whatever happened to the sweet girl I once knew?"

"Hmm." Marlene hummed with a bigger smile before she dropped her hands to her sides. "The Marlene you once knew, Demon Hunter, has grown up." She then held out her arms and slowly turned around in a circle so that he could get a better look. "So, what do you think?"

Dante snorted as he folded his arms and shook his head, while blowing out a low whistle. "Well, if it was legal and I knew that I wouldn't get my ass kicked, I would say you were hot. But I'll just say that you've grown into a very beautiful young woman, Marlene." He told her.

There was a long pause before Marlene's gentle smile broke out into a grin and she balled up her fists, looking excited. She even bounced on her heels a few times before running over and leaping right over the railing towards Dante, who quickly caught her. "Dante! I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're back! You kept your promise!" Marlene said cheerfully as she hugged him tightly. Dante chuckled as he hugged her right back before releasing her. He kept his hands on her shoulders as he looked her over again, raising an eyebrow then grinning at her. "I bet there's a bunch of wolves after you, huh? What's your dad got to say about your wild looking ways?"

It grew quiet again and slowly everyone looked around at one another. Even Marlene looked away. And Dante could see that there was a little sadness in her eyes. Now that he actually paid attention, Barret Wallace was not among the group of Avalanche. And for once, he felt a pit of dread enter his heart.

"Where's Barret?" The Demon Hunter asked carefully, now looking from Cloud to Tifa. "He's not….he's not dead…..is he?"

Tifa and Cloud looked at one another as if they had been dreading this question before looking back at Dante. The beautiful martial artist decided to answer it this time. "We're not entirely sure, Dante." She sighed. "About a year ago, there was an attack in the Coal Mines in Mt. Corel. A bunch of demons, in fact. We had a transmission from Barret saying how he was fighting them off just fine and was killing a bunch at a time. We even saw him fighting them on the vid screen. But then there was this noise and it went dead. After that, no one's seen or heard from him."

Dante, Zack and Lucia just frowned at one another before looking at the sad look on Marlene's face. The demon hunter sighed as he placed an arm around her shoulders. "Marlene, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't….."

"No. It's okay." Marlene said smiling again. "It's done and over with. Besides, I know he's alive. I can feel it in my heart. It's only a matter of time when we find him again."

Dante slowly nodded. He knew she was trying to keep a positive side, even though there was even doubt in her eyes. She didn't know if her father was alive. It had all of them worried. And the demon hunter knew that they were worried, no matter how much they were trying to hide it. He didn't know what he could say other than….."Zack," Dante spoke up, still looking in Marlene's eyes before turning to look at his black haired friend. "If we go to Mt. Corel, you think you can pick up his scent?"

That made several of the Avalanche members tense. They immediately realized what Dante was up to. In a way, they were deeply touched he was this concerned. And no one said anything to stop him. Zack, on the other hand, shook his head. "Picking up on a year old scent would be very hard, Dante. Maybe way too close to being impossible. Besides," He glanced over at Lucia, who looked back. "We're pretty pressed for time. We only have three days when the Hell gates opens up again. Trish and Lady are not going to be able to hold off all of them by their selves." He told him. Dante sighed before nodding. He knew that Zack had a point. They were running out of time. So he turned his attention onto Vincent. "We need help with our world. There are too many demons coming out of Hell into our world, killing people. There are only a thousand people left. And I'm afraid that only four people and a wolf man can't hold off an army of demons by our selves. No matter how powerful we are." He told the Ex-Turk. Vincent was quiet for a long time before looking over at the others. His red eyes met Cloud's, almost asking what they should do.

"Dante, we'll try and help as soon as we can. But there is a problem here too we need to worry about." Cloud spoke up. He tried to smile but it was really forced. "You understand, don't you?"

Dante only nodded as he folded his arms across his chest. His eyes narrowed a little as he looked down at the metal floor. "Yeah. I understand. That Sephiroth guy. Who the hell is he and how the hell is he alive?" He asked. A few eyes went back over to Shelke, who shook her head. "We are not even sure. But we will find out. As for your world, there may be a way I can suppress the Hell gate so the demons don't come out. Just to buy you some time." She told him. That surprised the Demon Hunters. They all looked at her with alarm, as she nodded. "You….can do that?" Lucia asked as she placed a hand against her chest.

Shelke shrugged, not looking too positive. "I can't say for sure. But I can sure try. Give me an hour or two to study the Hell gates then I'll see what I can do." She told the Demon Hunters.

Slowly, Dante nodded before he looked at the young girl. He really hoped that she could buy them time. And he seriously hoped that Trish and Lady could hold on longer too. He was worried about them; that was for sure. But he knew that they could fight the demons off for now. Hopefully. "All right then, kid. I'll leave that up to you." He then saw the others wince, as they gave him a look as if that had been a very bad thing to say. He even saw Vincent wince as his eyes flickered back to Shelke.

"Kid?" Shelke asked very coolly.

Hearing her talk like that, Dante turned back to look at her and saw that her eyes were glowing an amber color. And he stepped back to see that she was looking ready to killing him. He frowned even more as he took a step, giving her a wary look. "Uh……"

Shelke's eyes grew brighter as she looked at him threateningly. Her hands were even inching towards the strange rods she kept in the holders behind each of her legs. "For your information, I am not a kid. I am twenty-seven years old. Do not ever call me a kid." She said in such an icy tone that was loaded with trouble. Dante just frowned at her before starting to open his mouth to retort to her comment when Vincent stepped in between them. "Shelke, Dante doesn't know you very well. Don't take him too seriously." He told her in a quiet tone. Shelke just looked up at him before she nodded once. She gave Dante a look of dislike before turning around and leaving the cockpit.

"Yeesh. Talking about a cold shoulder." Dante said pulling a face.

Cloud snorted as he folded his arms and shifted his weight. "Careful, Dante. Shelke's tougher than she looks. She's not a kid and she hates it when someone calls her one." He turned to look up at Cid. "Cid, do we have any leads?"

Cid shrugged before looking at all of his workers. "Hey! Anything yet, peoples?!" he yelled. Several people looked up at him before they rushed into activity, checking to see if there was anything. There were a lot of clicks as more than two people were typing on computers. It was starting to annoy Dante a little. He didn't like machines very much, other than his motorcycle. Computers just didn't agree with him very well. What more could he say?

"Sir! There's been a sighting of demons near Rocket Town again!" Suddenly one of the workers yelled as she whirled around.

All of the Avalanche members grew a little tense, especially Cid, who just swore and nodded. His eyes glanced over to Cloud, who only nodded right back as he looked out the window. "Then Rocket Town is our destination. We'll take care of the demons there first, let Shelke quickly make a study of the Hell gates and then we'll decide on what we're going to do next." He announced. He paused as if he thought of something before turning to look at Dante. "Oh, by the way, be careful when you're around Marlene. She's turned into a flirt." He shot Marlene a teasing smile.

"Hey! I have not!" Marlene immediately exclaimed in out rage while everyone started laughing.

Dante just grinned and shook his head as he glanced at Marlene, who was pouting. He had to admit it, but she did look cute when she pouted. But then he paused when he saw the look on the young man's face; the one who looked like Denzel. He wondered if that was Denzel. He was sure it was because he was glaring darkly at the demon hunter. He remembered the young brown haired boy who was always around Marlene when she was younger. He had been so protective over the girl. It made the demon hunter smirk to think that Denzel might be getting a little jealous of him. 'Hmm. Looks like this is gonna be fun. I wonder if he's even good enough for her, anyway?' he thought then grinned to himself. 'Guess I'll have to test him myself.'

"Dante," Vincent spoke up as he joined his side. "What are you suddenly grinning about?"

Dante looked at the mythical man before shrugging as his eyes flickered over to the young man that was now talking to Marlene. "Who's that? Is that Denzel?" He asked in a low voice. Vincent glanced over before his lips curved upward and he nodded. He didn't reply just yet until he looked back at the half demon. "Yes. That's Denzel. He's grown a lot taller than you last seen him. Be careful of him. He cares for Marlene greatly." He told him.

"You mean he's in love with her." Dante snorted with humor.

Vincent shrugged as he turned away and started towards the door. He motioned for the half demon to follow, who did but he wasn't the only one. Lucia was also following after. It was obvious that she didn't want to leave Dante's sight. "You might as well say that. He's loved Marlene for quite some time but he never tells her." He glanced side wards at Dante. "And now that you've returned, he now has two competitors."

Dante frowned as he looked up at the somewhat taller man, his arms swinging at his sides. "Not that I think of Marlene in that way, but what do you mean he has two competitors." He asked. Vincent just shook his head as they left the cockpit to look around the airship. He obviously didn't want to tell Dante right now. But then he figured it was better to. "Marlene hasn't really stopped talking about you, Dante. She's been talking about you as if she was in love with you. In a way, I think she is." He chuckled when Dante looked worried. "To make things worst, recently, there's a hot shot running around, Luke Caine, who has similar looks to you. We found it strange how he looks somewhat like you. But He doesn't get along with Denzel very well. They are always bickering and arguing about simple things, mainly about the welfare of Marlene. When Barret disappeared, there was a major fight between them about who was going to help her get over it."

Dante frowned as he listened to Vincent talk about the young man, Luke. He wondered who this guy was. By the sound of him, he didn't like him already. But that just the sound. So what about the sight of him? "Vincent, I want to see this Luke. Where's he at?"

"Dante, don't even think about what I think you are thinking. Luke happens to be one of the best mechanics on the Shera and one of Cid's best men." Vincent said, but then sighed when Dante gave him a dry look. He knew it was no use. So it was better to just the Half Demon have his way. "He's in the engine room. I'll show you there but don't do anything to him." He told him.

Dante just nodded with a smirk while Lucia rolled her eyes. She hated it when the half demon got like this. He was such a hardheaded man at these times. She knew that once he got like this, there was no stopping him. The three of them walked through the steel corridor of the airship, looking around as they went. Vincent showed Dante and Lucia some of the rooms on the way there. He explained what they were used for, and even tried showing them Shelke's lab, who was working at the time. She glanced up at them from her work, only to start glaring at the demon hunter. Not wanting to have a fight break out between them, Vincent ushered them on. Dante, however was not very interested in any of the rooms they passed by. He just wanted to see who this Luke fellow was. To see if he was even worthy of Marlene. Not that he thought that he would even let him try and court Marlene. He was going to make sure that.

Finally, they came to a door where Dante could hear loud rumbling behind it. So this must have been the engine room. He could hear someone shouting orders across the room too and by the look on Vincent's face, the guy, Luke was definitely in there.

Grinning, Dante burst right through the door as soon as it slid open, looking around until his eyes fell onto a man shouting at another person for spilling oil onto the floor, and he froze with alarm.

The man, Luke was almost as tall as he was and he had pale blonde hair which somewhat spiked up. He was wearing dark blue pants with black long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was a strongly built man, around Dante's age; or exactly his age. Yet, there was something very familiar about him, even though his back was facing them. There was definitely familiar about this man.

And Dante knew what it was.

"You……" Dante said icily as he just tilted his head, getting a confused look from Lucia and Vincent.

The man, Luke, tensed for a moment before he made the sound as if he was smiling too loud. He kept his back facing Dante, Lucia and Vincent but made to look like he was going to turn around. "……well, well. Doesn't that voice sound way too familiar." Luke said as he titled his head to the side, still not turning around. Vincent frowned as he glanced side wards at Dante, who was extremely tense as he looked rather confused and angry at the same time. "Dante?" he muttered. "Dante, do you know Luke?"

"His name," Dante said dangerously low. ", is not Luke." And he yanked out his sword, swinging at the other.

"Luke" spun around rather quickly as there was a flash of bright white light, making several of the others flinch away and cover their heads. Vincent and Lucia just stood their ground, watching as Dante's blade slammed against the others'. But their eyes lit up when they saw that Luke had changed. He was no longer the Luke that they knew. Instead, he was a tall, cool tempered looking young man, smirking coolly at his twin brother.

"Hello, Dante." Vergil said with icy amusement.

Dante just continued to glare right at him, his lips curving up into a cool smile. "Well, well. If it isn't my brother back from Hell. I didn't think you would get out so soon. So you must have escaped. How'd you escape anyway?" He asked dryly. Vergil just smirked at him as they slowly began to circle one another, completely ignoring the others now. This was between them and only them. The others didn't matter right now. "Let's just say that someone let me out just so that I could take care of you." He told him in a cool tone.

There was a sudden click, making both half demons look over to see that Vincent was now aiming a gun at Vergil and Lucia had both of her blades out and ready to fight if she needed to. She was looking rather serious about this Dante look alike threatening her friend. "Dante, what is going on?" The serious Ex-Turk asked as he kept his red eyes on Vergil.  
Dante just watched him for a few seconds before he tilted his head back towards his twin, smirking. "This, Vince, is Vergil. He's my twin brother that I told you that I killed. Why he's here, pretending to be someone called Luke, I don't know why. So why don't we just ask you, Verg. What the hell are you doing here and why are you here?" He paused to look at the blade that Vergil noting that it was not his own, Yamato. He knew for a fact that the katana was in another's possession at the time. "And where's Yamato?"

Vergil just slid his sword away from Dante's Rebellion and backed away, keeping his icy blue eyes on his twin. He looked slightly annoyed at the question about his katana. "You know damn well where it is, Dante. I wouldn't mind getting it back, by the way." Then he turned slightly away but didn't turn his back onto him. He knew that it would be foolish if he did that. He just shook his head. "All right. You want to hear what I have to say before I kill you, fine. I was in Hell where you sent me, Dante. But someone came to me and told me that if I wanted my revenge against you, I would have my chance as long as I did kill you. That someone wouldn't tell me what his purpose was to killing you but I didn't care. As long as I got to rip out your heart and take what rightfully belongs to me." He told him coolly. "As for why I'm here, I guess the only answer to that is because you showed up here. And here you are."

"So you've been Luke all this time?" Vincent asked in a cool tone as he took a step back but he stopped when Dante threw out a hand and placed it against his chest to keep him back.

Vergil just shrugged as he looked into the Ex-Turk's red eyes then he nodded. He moved very slowly, almost like a predator stalking its prey. "Yes. I suppose I have been all this time Luke." He then smirked. "It was pretty fun messing with all of your heads."

Dante gritted his teeth, glaring at the half demon before him. He couldn't believe this. Vergil was alive and he had been flirting with Marlene. Why would he do that? "Not only that, you've been messing with Marlene, haven't you?" The Demon hunter said icily. Vergil paused to think about what he meant before smiling slyly. "Marlene. Oh, yes. She's a beautiful young girl, isn't she? Exceptionally beautiful, young, and quite stubborn. Yes, I suppose I have been playing with her a little. In fact," He looked almost evil with that smile on his face. "I stole her first kiss."

Something really snapped inside Dante's head. He had not wanted to hear THAT from Vergil. This was definitely pissing him off. To even think a villain like his twin had even kissed the girl he had grown to care about was enough to be furious about. But to think that Vergil, who was Dante's exact age; age 34, kissing a young 16 year old, that really pissed him off. Dante just growled inhumanly before he rushed forward swinging his sword at Vergil, who immediately put up his to deflect it. When the swords met with a loud clang, sparks flew everywhere, making everyone flinch as the sparks flew at them. Vincent had to throw up his arm to shield his face but then he quickly dropped it to see that Dante and his twin were now engaging in a deadly dance of blades. They were lashing at one another in the middle of the room, trying to slash one another in half. And they came very close to slashing one of the engineers. It was getting way too dangerous for an audience.

"Everyone! Get out of here now!" Vincent ordered and motioned for everyone to leave.

The engineers didn't need to be told twice. They were immediately out the door the very second the words were out of his mouth. Soon it was just the four; the Half Demon twins, the Ex-Turk and the angel. Dante and Vergil were still giving quite the show as they became a blur of red and blue, whirling around each other and swinging their blades. For a normal person, it would have been hard to keep an eye on them. But for Vincent and Lucia, they saw the fight just fine. Dante ducked under Vergil's blade before he could get his throat cut open. He spun rapidly on his heel to get behind his twin and tried to slash him in the back but the blue wearing twin was already leaping away from him, letting Dante's Rebellion slice right into one of the tanks. Steam hissed as it was violently released from the pipes, blowing right at Dante and making him jump back before he could get burned.

"Oh, that doesn't look good. That piece of equipment looks rather important, don't you think, Dante?" Vergil asked smirking as he swung at his twin brother.

Dante gritted his teeth as he jerked around and blocked the sword in his brother's hand before it could slash him. The swords met in a loud clang before they were moving again. He made a quick sharp glance to Vincent, nodding to the damage that his sword had just done. Vincent nodded in understanding before he rushing over the sliced pipes and began looking at the damage. Lucia joined him but her eyes were still on the dueling pair of Half Demons. They were getting rather violent over there.

_"What the hell is going on down there?! Who in the hell is trashing my ship?!"_ came Cid's angry transmission.

The only answer he got was the clanging of blades banging against one another and a shout of rage from Vergil when Dante sliced the bottom of his blue jacket. Dante smirked as he stood up straight, sword in hand while his twin brother looked down at the long cut through the blue leather. "I see you've slowed down a little since we last fought. Or is it because you don't have this." He grabbed at his amulet and held it up. Beside the Silver Materia were the two halves of their mother's pendant.

Vergil just eyed the amulet before he smirked as he also straightened, tilting his head to the side when they heard the sound of running. Even Dante turned his head a little to see Cloud, Zack, and some of the others appear at the door way to see what was going on. They all froze to see another white haired man, who looked way too much like Dante. "Well, looks like this is my que." Vergil said before turning back to Dante, a strange blue aura starting to drift off him.

Dante cursed already knowing what he was about to do. He even took a step towards Vergil as if to stop him. But he knew he wasn't going to be fast enough. "Vergil, don't!" He shouted.

But it was too late.

Vergil only smirked as he gathered more of his demonic power before releasing it all. There was a huge explosion as blue demon energy thrown out all over the room. Blue sparks began to run along the walls and the energy practically threw everyone off their feet. Even Dante was thrown back. He tried to catch himself but the results were thrown against the walls near a bunch of gears. Vincent had also hit the wall rather hard and Lucia hit the ground. The entire ship began to shake and rock violently as Vergil's demonic energy attacked the gears and the engines. Dante winced as he pushed himself off the wall and looked around to see Vergil in his demon form as he was studying the ship's wall. But as if he sensed the Demon Hunter's eyes on him, he turned around and smirked right at his twin brother. Dante shook his head, as if trying to tell him not to do it. But Vergil, of course, ignored him. He turned back to the wall and swung his claws, slicing right through the metal interior. There was another explosion and the ship really lost control as the air inside the ship began to whoosh out. The pressure was unbearable for control. Vergil dove right through hole he caused, flying off into the sky while the airship, Shera had to deal with her problems.

There were a lot of screams through the airship as everyone had to hold onto something as the ship began to spin out of control. Several people ended up getting knocked into the walls or fell down the stairs. It was complete chaos as the ship was fighting to regain control.

In the cockpit, Cid was swearing up a storm as he was fighting with the helm to stop the Shera from spinning in the air and causing more damage than there already was. He had to actually brace himself and throw himself into the wheel. He swore he would kill whoever was responsible for this if they survived this chaos.

Dante, however, decided it was time to try and do something about the problem. He quickly slid the Rebellion away and dove right out of the hole out into the open sky, much to his friends yelling after him. He almost was knocked right out of the air as he started to fall. But with a burst of red light, he transformed into his demonic form and dove right after the Shera as it was starting to spiral towards the ground. He beat his wings hard as he gave chase after the falling ship. He lashed out and grabbed what he believed to be the tail to stop it from spinning anymore. At first he ended up spinning with it, being lashed around but after spreading out his wings and pulling hard, he stopped it. It took a lot to even start to pull up as hard as he could. His wings were starting to feel the terrible strain as them pumped harder. He gave a very inhuman growl as he tried to activate the Silver Materia to help him.

Finally after a long minute of falling and fighting to stay in the air, the Silver Materia began to glow brightly, nearly blinding the Half Demon but then the light turned a brilliant white as green tendrils began to swirl around Dante and the Shera. He didn't pay too much mind as he pulled at the ship as hard as he could. Eventually, the ship regained control as it began to pull up almost thirty feet off the ground. A few tree tops scrapped against Shera's belly and the grass was starting to blow apart but nonetheless, it hadn't crashed.

Dante, on the other hand, did.

The strain of trying to stop the ship from becoming a large ball of flames had been too much on him. He panted heavily as his body flashed red and he was no longer in his demon form. And because he no loner had his wings, he dropped from the ship.

"Dante!" He heard Lucia scream when he saw a flash of silver blue and she was diving out in her angelic form right after him. He knew that she wasn't going to reach him on time though. He was falling too fast and she was too far. His vision darkened as he fell out of the sky and he all he saw was Lucia diving after him. But before he could hit the ground, something collided with him. At first, it was black and silver but then something glowing blue. but before he could actually see what it was, the darkness crept up after him. He heard more shouts and gun fire before he completely lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

* * *

**Time to Hunt Again  
****Chapter 6**

There was a few things going through Dante's mind while he slept after losing consciousness. The first thing was how did this happen? It took him a moment to remember exactly how he lost consciousness in the first place. When it came back to him, he then wondered where in the heck Vergil went because he really wanted to kill him. The next thing he thought about was what he last saw. He had seen something come out of nowhere while he was falling the remaining thirty feet. But what was it? Dante tried to recall the memory, which was hard enough because he was starting to wake up now. And as he slowly regained consciousness, he felt a dull ache in his body. 'Hm? What's this? Why am I so sore now?' He thought to himself as he pushed himself to waking up.

And the very first thing that Dante thought when he did wake up from his painless sleep was "OWWW!!" when he felt as if his entire body was on fire.

It was the fact that while trying to stop the airship from crashing, he had nearly pulled every muscle in his body. His shoulders had the worst of it. They were burning like the intense flames of Hell. He swore he was going to die from the pain. With almost every curse word he knew coming out of his mouth, he heard someone chuckling close by. It sounded rather familiar. But who was that?

Dante opened his eyes and tried to look around but found that it was rather dark. It took him a minute to realize that he was staring up at the night sky and there was a strange imprint of some kind of monster high above the atmosphere. But then he saw movement near him, making him turn his head slightly. His vision was still a little blurry from sleeping too long but seeing that the stranger's right arm was somewhat glowing with a mystical blue glow, he knew that this was no stranger at all. "Do I really want to know how you got here or should I ask anyway, Nero?"

The young man inched closer in a crouch still watching Dante. In a way, he was similar to the Half Demon. He had pure white hair falling around his face and sapphire blue eyes twinkling with humor as they stared down at the other Demon Hunter. The trickster sort of smile was curled on his face as he shifted his head to the side. Nero hadn't changed very much since the last time Dante had seen him. He was still wearing his deep blue jeans, red hooded vest and blue leather jacket. His demonic red and blue arm was still the same, hanging at his side while his left one was a normal human arm.

"Do you really want to know or should I just laugh at you for falling out of the air and having me catch you?" Nero asked with a trickster's grin.

Dante winced as he forced himself to sit up and rub the back of his head while looking at the younger half demon. He couldn't help but grin up at the younger half demon. "Jeezus. I can't believe how out of shape I'm in if I have to get rescued by you." He said with humor. Then he touched his amulet, activating the healing jewel. Nero rolled his eyes as he stood up and moved away from him. He was obviously used to this kind of behavior from Dante. "You really haven't changed since two years ago, have you?"

"Cut the crap, Nero." Dante said as he reached behind him and tried to massage his burning shoulders. "How did you get here and why are you here? And further more," He looked right at Nero's back. "Do you even know where here is?"

Nero turned back, frowning now but then he shook his head, rather solemn. He didn't look too happy about what he was about to tell Dante. "No to two of those questions and I have no idea on one. I don't know where here is, I don't know exactly how I got here and I don't know why I'm here. All I last remember is that I was in Fortuna City tending to whoever was injured that **you** sent to us because of the Demon War." He rose his voice a little and pointed accusingly at Dante, who just shrugged. "Well, a few demons escaped into the city and I went to take care of them when something happened. I don't know exactly, but there was this bright flash and something grabbed Kyrie, pulling her through the Hell Gate. I tried going after her but……" He cut off sounding a little pained and frustrated.

"Jeezus." Dante groaned as he continued to rub his shoulders. "Can't your girlfriend ever stop getting into trouble?" He breathed out a sigh as he forced himself, painfully, to his feet. He ignored the annoyed look he got from Nero. "So she was pulled through a Hell Gate, huh? What happened after that?"

Nero shook his head as he looked away, forlorn. "Not entirely sure. I dove through the Hell Gate and then I was thrown right through some kind of tunnel. It was like I was speeding through outer space. Stars and planets were whizzing by me as if I in a car driving fast down the road." He shrugged as he turned his blue eyes back onto Dante. "Then I was falling out of the sky, right into some bay. There was something there though when I came out of the water. Some guy in black with silver hair….."

"Shit. That would be Sephiroth." Dante groaned as he looked away. "When was this?" He added.

Nero frowned when he heard that. He, of course, didn't know who that was but apparently Dante did. He only ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. A day or two ago. I've been wandering around, getting attacked by the weirdest demons. Some of them I've never even seen before. But unlike the demons that we're used to, they kept dropping items." He told him. Dante rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to think before he looked around, noting where they were. It was obviously not where the airship was. And where was everyone else? He had remembered seeing Lucia diving after him when he fell from the ship. So where was she? What happened? And he then remembered seeing something flying at him when he had fell. Other than seeing a blue glow, which was obviously Nero's arm, he had seen black and silver. He tried to think back but it was almost obvious of who it had been before he actually remembered.

"How did you know I was falling out of the sky in the first place?" Dante asked frowning, now looking away from Nero and moving away a little. All humor was gone from his tone and that was something that the younger half demon wasn't used to.

"Huh? Oh, I saw you. I was walking through this field and I heard an explosion. When I looked up, I saw this giant falling ship of some kind. It was spinning out of control, heading straight towards some city or town, or something. I saw you in your other form trying to stop it so I figured you needed a hand." Nero informed him. "I was really surprised to actually see you here. I didn't expect you to see you. Where are……"

Dante turned sharply around, looking directly into his eyes. There was no trace of humor in his eyes at all. He was actually looking very serious. "Nero, what happened when you caught me? Explain everything you saw, everything you did. It's important that you tell me every detail." He told him.

Taken back a little, Nero took a step back away from the Demon Hunter. He didn't like that look in the usually optimistic man's eyes. He knew that Dante was in no mood for joking around or anything. So he shook his head, motioning with his hands. "Uh, well, I saw you falling out of the sky so I went to catch you and then I saw that guy in the black flying at you with a black wing. It was like he was some kind of one winged black angel or a demon. He was starting to swing this really long ass sword at you, as if he was going to slice you in half. You looked really out of it so I jumped up into a tree and up into the air to intercept the attack. There was also this other demon, an angelic looking one flying after you. I think it was a girl. She took one look at the black winged guy and then dove at him. I was firing off rounds at him with my Blue Rose while I grabbed you out of the air. You were definitely out of it as we fell to the ground." He scratched the back of his head, trying to think back. "I saw a little of the fight between the angelic creature and the black winged angel. They were really going at it. I think he sliced her in half though. She fell right out of the sky and tried to come after us. But I was out of there. There was no way I was fighting that guy with you out cold….." He, however, shut up when he saw the look on Dante's face.

Dante looked as if he had just been punched in the gut several times. He was staring at the other white haired half demon with a look of horror. He also felt as if his body had just gone through subzero temperatures, freezing him instantly. "Lucia……" He muttered. Nero frowned as he tilted his head. He wasn't sure who Lucia was either. And he really wouldn't. The only one out of the girls that worked with Dante that had met Nero was Trish. He had not even met Lady or Lucia at all. "Dante? Dante, what's wrong?"

A millisecond later, Dante was right in front of Nero, grabbing the front of his shirt. He looked rather dangerous, yet frantic as he looked directly into the half demon's eyes. "Where did she fall?! How far did you bring me from the crash site?!" He demanded. Nero froze for a moment but the other half demon shook him a little. He knew he had better answer the question. "It's about a mile away from here. To the south, I think." He then extended his glowing claw in the direction. "The weird ship went down too but it was more like a rough landing. But I still heard a lot of explosions."

With a very loud curse on his tongue, Dante whirled around the forest clearing, seeing where his things were before rushing over to collect them. He quickly slid both Rebellion and Alastor into their places at his back and then made sure that his twin guns were safely at his sides. "Damn it! I swear if she dies, I will severely kill Sephiroth, though I'm probably going to do it anyway!" He growled before looking at Nero. "You better come with me, Nero! I'll explain to you about this place when I get the chance but right now I have to find the Lucia and the others!"

Slowly nodding, Nero quickly followed after Dante when he began running as fast as he could towards the south. He would ask questions later, though he was really tempted to finding out now. But it would have to wait. The mood that Dante was in didn't look good in his book. He had never seen the Demon Hunter so serious before. And it was kind of scary.

To a normal human's point of view, to see two half demons running past them would be only blurs of red and blue, for they were using their demonic speed to get to their destination. And it didn't take them long to run a mile either. They were soon at the field where Shera had gone down. It was still there and there were lights on inside and all around it. There was the sound of pounding metal, proving that the Avalanche members' ship team were trying to repair what was damaged. There was a lot of smoke coming off the metal too, and that didn't look good. There were also movement out in the field, which rapidly came closer as Dante and Nero ran towards them. The Demon Hunter felt Nero slow down a little, but still ran behind him.

A few moments later, they came to a halt just as soon as they saw the workers from the airship. Among those people were a few of the Avalanche. Vincent was standing with Cloud, talking to him about the damage while Cid was swearing up a storm as he stared at the giant hole in his ship. But all eyes jerked over when Dante came to a stop. They looked rather relieved and surprised to see him again, but paused when they saw another white haired man. Not wanting to take chances, especially with what happened before with Vergil, the A-Team pulled their weapons, looking prepped up for a fight.

"Whoa, whoa! It's just me, guys!" Dante said holding up his hands. They did not relax though. Their eyes were mostly on Nero, whose hand was already grabbing at his Red Queen blade. But Dante turned sharply, grabbing that hand. "Nero, relax. They're friends." He told him before looking at Vincent. "It's all right. He's with me. This is Nero. I guess you can say he's a relative of mine, in some weird sense. He's cool."

Slowly, Vincent and the others relaxed before breathing out a low sigh. They could only shake their heads as they moved closer. "Dante, thank Hyne you're all right. We were worried that Sephiroth got you." Cloud said to him. Dante shook his head as he folded his arms. "Oh, come on, Cloud. You have to give me more credit than that. I'm a hard bastard to kill. Even for that silver haired freak." But then his face fell as his thoughts immediately went back to why they were there. "Never mind that. Where is Lucia?" Everyone froze, looking at him with worry. Vincent and Cloud looked at each other then back at the Demon Hunter. Neither one of them could manage to say it. And Dante didn't like the looks of that. He frowned and tilted his head to the side. "Where is Lucia?" He repeated.

"She's aboard the airship. She's really not in good condition at all either." Cloud told him.

Dante looked rather serious to hear that. That was definitely not what he wanted to hear. He had wanted to hear that Lucia was okay and safe. That she was just waiting with the others, laughing and smiling at some of the corniness that went on around some of the other A-Team members. "Take me to her." Was all that he needed to say.

Vincent and Cloud nodded as they immediately turned around and started walking towards the Shera. They knew that it was better to just that. Dante followed them back to the ship, knowing that Nero would follow. He thought it was a good idea that the younger Half demon stayed near him anyway. He knew that if Vergil was looking for his sword, and if he found out that Nero had it, he would definitely come looking for it. And Dante was sure that no matter how good Nero was, he would be unable to beat Vergil in a fight.

They finally reached the room where Lucia was being kept, and immediately Dante walked into the room. The first thing he noticed was Tifa, Yuffie and Marlene were in the room, trying to help her. The next thing he noticed was that Lucia was not in good shape at all. She looked horrible, actually. She was somehow trapped in her demon form, sprawled out on her stomach on the bed. Her white form was covered in her own blood and she was glowing a low blue, though the light was starting to fade away. She was breathing really heavily and looked like she was in a lot of pain.

"Dante!" Marlene said the very second she saw him. "You're okay!"

Dante didn't look at her as he caught her with one arm. His eyes were only on his heavily injured partner. He didn't even look like he had heard Marlene. Especially as he lightly pushed past her and went over to Lucia's side, looking at the angelic looking demon over. He ended stepping back again when he saw how bad the damage was. Lucia's right wing was nearly severed. He could almost see the bone within the blood. It was definitely something that made Dante shiver. He hated seeing wounds like this. Especially when it was one of his female friends. And one he cared about a lot. He had to admit it, Lucia was the one out of his three girl friends that he cared about the most. She was so innocent out of the three and in his opinion the one who needed protecting the most, even though she could take care of herself. Shaking his head, Dante stepped closer, then lowered himself to his knee while looking at the injury. "Lucia," He muttered. "I'm sorry. I should have been there to stop him from hurting you."

Lucia frowned in her painful state before her eyes flickered open, looking right at Dante. She had heard what he said though. She tried to smile at him but it turned into a grimace of pain and she had to bite the pillow to keep herself from crying out. After the short painful moment, she sighed and closed her eyes. "D-Dante...it's all right." She muttered. "It was...it wasn't your fault." She told him. Dante only shook his head as he placed his hand onto her uninjured arm, wanting to say something but couldn't find himself to.

"Is she going to be all right?" Nero asked as he stepped into the room, catching the attention of the ladies.

The three ladies looked almost too surprised to see him before seeing the flicker of blue on his right arm. He didn't notice at first as they looked at it, tilting their heads in curiosity. Yuffie, however, grimaced as she looked right at it. "What's with your arm? It's all glowing blue like and weird looking? Is it fake?" She asked as she tried to step closer.

Nero looked at her with surprise before he quickly tilted his head downward to his arm then hid it behind his back. He hated it when people stared at his demon arm. It always made him feel uncomfortable. Especially when they looked at it like this woman was doing. Dante, however, didn't turn around but stared at Lucia. He had tilted his head only a little but still didn't look at the young ninja. "Don't stare at his arm. He gets technical when people does that." He warned them before he finally turned his head around to look over his shoulder at the three ladies. "Everyone, this is Nero. He's like me, a half demon. He's a friend of mine, and kind of a punk. But he's all right. He's one helluva fighter, especially with his demon's arm. But he does not like people staring at it." His eyes flickered over to the uncomfortable Nero. "Nero, these are some of my associates and friends, the Avalanche team. Tifa, Yuffie, and Marlene. The three guys are Vincent, Cloud and Cid. Vincent is sort of like us. He's not entirely demon but he carries demons in his body."

The young Knight frowned in surprise, tilting his head as he looked at the red eyed Ex-Turk. He had heard of demons possessing a human body but a human with demons inside his body? That wasn't very common, unless you counted the year before when a couple of demonic loving maniacs trapped demon spirits in their bodies just for power and trying to pose as God. "Uh..." Nero wasn't sure exactly how to react to Vincent.

Dante made an amused sound as he turned back to the in pain Lucia. "I know what you're thinking, Nero. Why hadn't I killed him yet, huh?" He shook his head. "It's a long story but to make it short, I tried to once but then changed my mind when I found out that he's a good man. He's a powerful bastard anyway and is useful when you're fighting the more stronger demons." He told the young Knight. But then he gritted his teeth when another wave of pain rolled over Lucia, causing her to whimper. "Damn it. This isn't good."

Nero turned back to Dante, frowning as he looked Lucia over. "What's happened to her?" He asked with concern.

Dante shook his head but didn't say anything as he turned around when Shelke entered the room. He remained crouched down by Lucia's side, not even noticing the look on Marlene's face. Shelke just took one look at Lucia before looking at Nero. "She's trapped in her demon form because she was hurt badly in that form. Problem is, it's draining her of her strength. Anymore loss of energy and she can die."

The Demon Hunter slowly nodded as he looked back at Lucia. "She's going to die if she doesn't heal soon. Hey, kid." He said addressing Shelke and getting a dry look for it. "You think you can figure out what she needs to stay alive?"

Shelke glared at Dante for a long few seconds before she nodded, moving forward. She made a quick scan on her arm computer before raising a hand over Lucia's wound. A dim beam of light shone over it before there was a few beeps, as if the computer was done thinking already. "The only thing that needs to be done is to heal her. But problem is, we can't do that. The wound given to her was made by Sephiroth's sword, Masamune. With that sword, it takes a lot of time to heal a wound. Not like it does with your every day sort of weapon." She said in her calm and collected voice. Her blue eyes looked at her arm computer again, frowning. "From my analysis, there is no way to heal her with our curative methods. But," She turned her eyes back onto Dante, who was resting an arm on his knee. "But you can."

"Exactly how do I do that?" Dante asked raising an eyebrow.

Shelke shook her head as she looked down at the amulet hanging around his neck. She pressed a few buttons on her computer without looking at it before holding up a hand towards the amulet. The same beam of light shone onto the necklace, surprising the Demon Hunter a little but he didn't say anything. "To be honest, I'm surprised." Shelke announced. "From a quick scan of your amulet, I can see that there is an element inside those crystals which possesses a supernatural power. I believe it might be some kind of...blood. Demon's blood, I suppose."

Slowly Dante nodded. he didn't speak genius like Shelke did but he knew what she was meaning. He knew what stones she was looking at. The twin crystals, the bloodstones. They were the crystals that his mother had given him and Vergil when they were only children before she was murdered by demons. It was true that the crystals were actually hardened blood from his father, Sparda.

But before Dante could say anything about it, Lucia groaned loudly before she started shaking violently. Everyone tensed to see that happening to her. Especially Dante. He whirled around and placed a hand onto her back, trying to stop her from shaking. It didn't do very good though. Tifa, Marlene and Yuffie backed up against the walls with horror. They were not liking this at all. But Shelke moved forward, looking more serious than ever. "She's going under cardiac arrest. She needs to be healed now." She said quickly.

Dante just frowned before turning sharply towards Nero. "Nero, Yamato. Right now." He said seriously. The young Knight frowned with surprise but then nodded as he held up his demonic arm. With a flash of blue, a silver katana with an icy blue handle appeared in his hand. Nero didn't even say anything as Dante stood up sharply, grabbed the blade with his hand. He knew what Dante was up to. Dante just used his other hand to tug his necklace off his neck before he yanked his hand along the blade, cutting his skin. His blood ran down the blade but he didn't say anything as he placed his amulet into his now cut up hand and then placed it on Lucia's wound. Both the amulet and Lucia's injury began to glow hot red. The stone seemed to be sucking up Dante's blood and Lucia's would slowly began to seal up. A few seconds later, her body flickered and she was back to her normal self. She was gasping from exhaustion and pain, but she had stopped shaking. It seemed to be good because Shelke nodded with satisfaction. So Dante bent down beside the bed, still holding his amulet against her back. "Lucia," he said quietly.

Lucia opened her eyes and looked at him wearily but she managed a faint smile. "……Th-thank you…..Dan-Dante." She murmured.

Dante returned the smile as his eyes flickered over to the wound to see it was mostly healed now but then he picked up his amulet. He knew after a little time, she was going to be back to herself. "Hey, just to let you know. Though you're all covered in blood and sweat, you're still hot." He teased her. This brought a smile to everyone's faces. All but Marlene, because she looked away. Lucia just laughed weakly. "You, Dante, are not as charming as you think you are. So shut up."

The demon hunter just grinned at her as he put his amulet back on around his neck. "Come on, Luce. You know you love me." He told her before helping her turn onto her back.

Lucia just snorted before she reached up and smacked his chest with her shaky hand. "Don't get a bigger head than you already have, big head."

Everyone couldn't stop the smiles now. This was definitely an amusing situation to watch. Even though Lucia had came close to dying, they were still smiling and joking with one another. Dante frowned as he folded his arms and bent over Lucia. "You know, you're not as angelic as everyone thinks you are. You're actually really mean, you know that?" He asked, with a mocking pout.

"So cry about it." Lucia teased him weakly.

Dante rolled his eyes but he was smiling. "Devils never……"

Lucia laughed softly as she looked up at him. She knew what he was about to say. It was something he always said. "Devils never cry. Yeah, yeah." She interrupted. Dante just shook his head with a smile before reaching down and tapping her on the forehead. "Get some rest, Lucia. You need it." He then pulled a face at a sudden thought. "Man, Trish and Lady is going to have my head when they find out about you getting hurt in my case." He complained before turning to leave the room. The others followed him out into the hall, though Nero was still glancing over his shoulder back into the room.

"Dante, she's going to be okay, right?" Tifa asked worriedly.

Dante just nodded as he leaned against the wall and massaged his temple. He was obviously thinking too much on this and it hurt his brain. "She'll be fine when she heals up. She's been through worst, believe it or not. The worst thing that has ever happened to her was that she found out she was created by some sick bastard who was trying to use her. But she's grown strong from that." He paused to look at Marlene as she was starting to walk away. She obviously found no interest in this conversation. But the thing was, Dante was not done with her just yet. "Marlene."

Marlene frowned before turning back around, looking at him curiously. "Huh?" she asked before smiling. "Yeah, Dante. You need something?"

Dante slowly nodded as he stared squarely at her. He wanted to smile back but he couldn't. The thoughts in his mind wasn't letting him. "Luke Caine. You want to tell me what the deal is with him?" He asked. Marlene frowned at the name before she slowly shook her head and folded her arms. "He's a worker on the Shera and one of my friends. What about him?"

"What's this about you kissing him?" Dante just asked out of the blue.

Everything seemed to stop all around them. It was just as the others were walking up too, including Denzel. Everyone froze and stared at Dante and Marlene as they stared at one another Marlene was almost as stunned as everyone else, but her face had definitely gone a little pale when she heard those words come out of Dante's mouth.

"How…..who told you that…..?!" Then she frowned and dropped her arms to her sides. "I don't know how you found out about that, but that is none of your business, Dante." She told him sternly.

Dante narrowed his eyes a little but he shook his head and stared at Marlene. "It is when the one who kissed you is a 34 year old man, who also happens to my psychotic twin brother." He said dryly. Again, everything seemed to stop all around everyone. Even Nero froze when he heard that. All were very dumbstruck. Marlene looked very surprised but the look on her face seemed to lean more towards "How did you know that?!" sort of look before she shook her head. "N-no. That's not true. Luke is 19, not 34. And he's not….."

"His name is Vergil, Marlene. He's my twin brother. I got the words right from him. He's the same age as me, only a little older." Dante said dully. "And he's dead when I get my hands on him. But that doesn't matter. What does is you letting him kiss you. You're 16 years old and you are too young to be letting any guy kiss you."

Marlene glared at Dante now. She was not amused at all by his reaction to all of this. And she did not think that she was too young about getting a kiss. Nor did she think it was fair to being lectured by Dante of all people. "It is not your business, Dante, of who I kiss and who I date! You are not my father!" She told him sharply. Dante shook his head again, still staring at her. "No. But if your dad was here, he'd be raising hell about this ordeal. He'll probably kill Vergil when he finds out." He said dryly.

"Well, he's not going to find out! He's not going to come back! He's gone and he's not coming back!" Marlene said angrily, tears filling her eyes. She was trying to push them back but it wasn't easy. "It's been a year, Dante! If he was alive, he would have been back already! He would be here! But he's not! He's dead!" She turned sharply away. "And for your information, I didn't let Vergil kiss me! He kissed me without permission, just to piss Denzel off because he was being stupid! And I punched him for kissing me!" She shouted before starting to bolt away.

However, Dante lashed out and caught her arm, keeping her from leaving. He didn't seem to be done with her yet. He wanted to talk to her some more. But Marlene was done talking to him.

"Let go of me, Dante!" Marlene snapped trying to yank away. But he wouldn't let go. He glanced off to the side when he saw Denzel frown seriously and started moving forward as if to rescue Marlene from him but both Vincent and Cloud caught him by the shoulders, holding him back. They seemed to be with Dante on this one. Marlene frowned when Dante refused to let go so she lashed out a hand to slap him but he caught it with his other hand like it was nothing. Angrily, she lashed out her foot to kick him but again, Dante saw it coming and caught her foot between his knees. "Dante!" she hissed angrily trying not to break down.

"You are wrong." Dante said shutting her up and making her look up into his deep blue eyes. "Barret is coming back for you. He's your dad for god's sakes. He would never leave you alone. I would know if he was dead. I know he's alive somewhere. We just have to find him."

Marlene stared up at him for a minute with a quivering lip before she threw her arms around his chest, burying her face into his shoulder. Dante only shook his head as he hugged her with one arm, letting her just break down against him. He knew she needed this moment. "We will find him, Marlene. I promise." He told her. Marlene paused for a minute before she pulled away and smiled up at him. She was feeling much better.

"Hmm. I didn't know you had such a soft spot for girls, Dante." Nero said smirking as he tilted his head to the side.

Dante and the others looked at him, again the A-Team were intrigued with him. Especially Marlene. She was looking him over and smiling, which Denzel immediately didn't like. He was already not liking Nero because of how much he looked like Dante. "Hey, when it comes to women, I'm a real big softie. So what?" He then saw the looks on the others' faces. "What? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Dante. It's just….." Cloud began still staring at Nero, though his eyes kept flickering down at the young Knight's demonic arm. Again uneasy, Nero hid his arm behind his back. He just wished they'd stop staring. "I think I speak for everyone else, but we're curious about your young friend here. Exactly who is he again?" The blonde swordsman asked, though he glanced over at Zack when he walked right up, grinning.

"That's Nero, Cloud. He's half demon just like Dante and Vergil." Zack said folding his arms.

Dante nodded with a smile as he glanced at Nero. He almost laughed when he saw how confused the Knight was. He knew for a fact that Nero didn't know Zack, even though Zack knew about Nero. They hadn't actually gotten the chance to meet each other. At the time Dante had been running around in Fortuna City with Trish, Zack had been in his wolf form helping Lucia out at her village. They had had quite a few demons messing around with the people there so Dante had Zack go help her, knowing he was more than able. "Oh that's right." Dante spoke up, his arm resting on Marlene's shoulders and his other hand was on his waist. "You two didn't get to meet. Zack, here, is one my partners, Nero. Just like Trish, or as you know her, Gloria is. He knows about you from what I've told him." He paused to look at his friends. "As for Nero, he's here because he's looking for his girlfriend."

Marlene smiled as she was still looking Nero over, though her eyes flickered over to Denzel for a short few seconds. "Hey! He's really cute, so I'll be his girlfriend." She said in a flirtatious way.

A few of the A-Team rolled their eyes while Denzel's eyes darkened. He didn't seem to like that at all but didn't say anything. Instead, he flashed Nero a cool look before turning away. No one really actually noticed but Dante. He snorted with amusement before looking at Marlene. "Heh, no you will not, Marlene." He ignored the pout on her face. "Nero's taken anyway. He's has a sweetheart that he's looking for. She went missing while a fight was going down in their town. Something, or much less, someone has kidnapped her." He said, shooting Nero a smirk. "Again."

Nero gave him a dry stare for that. He knew where Dante was going with that. It was the fact that his girlfriend, Kyrie, always managed to get herself in some kind of trouble. She had been kidnapped before and Nero had done all that he could to saving her. That was why he was here, looking for her.

"So, what's with his arm again?" Yuffie asked curiously.

Again, Nero hid his arm behind his back while trying to pull down his sleeve. He was getting annoyed with everyone trying to stare at it again. He even started to turn to leave. But Dante turned around and grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling him back. Then he grabbed at the knight's demonic arm, shoving the sleeve back up so that they could see the glowing blue, red demonic arm. "This, Yuffie, is Nero's demon arm and yes, it's very real." He ignored Nero as he tried to yank back his arm but he held firm. "Nero HATES it when people stares at it so try not to stare. I don't see you staring at Vincent's arm." He told her. Nero frowned as he glanced over at Vincent, finally noticing his left arm. He was almost surprised to see it. He hadn't noticed it before.

"……" Vincent hummed before he went over to Nero and Dante, reaching out for the young knight's arm. But instead of grabbing it, he grabbed the sleeve and pulled it back down over Nero's demonic arm. "Dante, stop teasing him."

Dante let go of Nero's arm, laughing quietly. He knew it wasn't smart teasing Nero too much but it did make things fun. "Ah, just kidding around, Vince. Anyway, Nero's like me, though he seems to be more demon than I am because of his arm, he's a whole lot more human than me. Anyway, he can do a lot of things with that arm of his." He told the A-Team.

"Really?" Tifa asked curiously. "Like what?"

However, before anyone could answer, one of the engineers ran up to their group, looking very frantic. He was waving his arms around above his head, while yelling for Cid. "Captain Cid! Captain Cid! Rocket Town's under fire! It's being attacked by this huge demon that has come out of nowhere!"

"What?!" Cid exclaimed then began swearting up a nasty storm while rushing towards the cockpit to find out more information about what was going on. Dante just grinned as he folded his arms behind his head and glancing around at everyone else. "Well, looks like we've got a party to catch. I say, we gatecrash it."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone. Just to let you guys know one thing. You guys are going to so love this chapter. Because Dante, and everyone, gets a new toy to play with. Have fun.**

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**Time to Hunt Again  
Chapter 7**

Everyone was standing in the cockpit, looking at Cid as he was talking to someone on his mobile. By the sound of his voice, things in Rocket Town were not going very well. He was grinding his teeth and trying not to yell, but they all knew that he was really tempted of doing it. Dante and Nero stood back as they watched the pilot seething. But after awhile, Cid finally hung up and looked at the Half Demons and the A-Team. "Rocket's taking a major hit all right. The demon that is attacking seems to be some kind of giant crab spider kind of demon. It's tearing Rocket Town apart and has eaten several people already. The town's on a evacuation sequence but every time the friggen demon sees anyone, it scoops them up and eats them." The pilot growled. "And what's friggen worst is that Shera's still down! We can't get 'er back online in time!"

The A-Team all looked very worried as they looked at one another, except Dante, Nero and Vincent. Instead the three looked at one another, as if they were thinking the same thing before they nodded. Together, all three of them turned away from the group and started moving towards the door.

"Where are you guys going?" Yuffie asked she shifted her weight and folded her arms.

Dante lazily glanced over his shoulder at her, a light smirk on his face. "Where do you think I'm going? I'm a Demon Hunter and I hunt demons." He grinned at his friends from this world. "You want to come with us, or what?" He asked. Cloud turned away from Cid and nodded to the Half Demon. He definitely wanted to go. "Yeah. We're coming with. And since the Shera's down, there's only one form of transportation." He glanced around at the others. "So that means most of us will be staying here. Therefore, Denzel and Zack, why don't you come with me, Dante, Nero, and Vincent. Everyone else will have to stay here and try to get the ship back online. Then come after us as soon as you can."

Tifa moved forward, putting a hand on his arm. She looked like she wanted to go with them but she knew she couldn't. She was pregnant and wasn't in any shape at all for fighting. It would endanger not only her life, but her and Cloud's baby. So she knew she could only wish them good luck. "Cloud, be careful. I don't want to hear that you or the others got hurt fighting this thing." She told him. Cloud looked at her with a faint smile before reaching over and gently kissing her.

"Tifa," Dante began as he turned to look at her. "Watch over Lucia, if you will. She's going to need as much rest as she can and if she knew that I was off fighting demons, though she probably already does, she's going to try and come after us. Can you make sure she doesn't?"

Tifa nodded with a smile as she held up a hand, as if to give him a solid oath. And she was. She would make sure that Lucia got the rest she needed. And if that meant throwing a Sleep spell over the beautiful demon-angel, so be it. "I will, Dante. Just all of you be careful." She told them. The six men nodded before they turned and left the cockpit. Cloud was leading everyone down the hall, towards the cargo bay, where they were keeping their means of transportation. But as they walked, all six became very aware that they were being followed. So the men turned around to see Marlene following them. She looked as if she was going to go with them. And the look on her face told them that she was intending to.

Denzel turned fully around and shook his head at her. "Marlene, no." He told her.

Marlene gave him a dry stare while folding her arms and nodding. Dante just tilted his head, looking at her. "Where do you think you are going?" He asked. The young fighter turned her dry stare onto him next as she shifted her weight. "Where do you think I'm going, Dante? I'm going with you, guys, And if you're thinking about telling me no," She said loudly to cut her best friend off when he opened his mouth. "Don't, Denzel. Because I won't listen. I'm coming with you guys like it or not!" She told them sternly.

Then the young teens glared at one another while Dante looked rather amused. He had to admit it, but Marlene had definitely grown up with a very stubborn attitude. She was very feisty and determined, something that he knew she would have been for having Barret as a father. Nero, on the other hand, just frowned. "I don't think it's a good idea. You could place yourself in danger." He said agreeing with Denzel.

"Well, I do think it's a good idea, so drop it now." Marlene said stubbornly before she walked right past them towards the cargo hold.

Dante chuckled while Nero opened his mouth to argue. He really didn't think it was a good idea that Marlene was coming with either, but this was amusing. But before Nero could say anything, Cloud held up a hand and shook his head. "Trust me, Nero. It's better not to argue with Marlene. She will win it. She's very persuasive and she has developed Barret's temper. Just let her have her way." He said glancing over at the forlorn looking Denzel as well. Then he walked on with the others following after. Once they entered, Cloud went straight to a storage unit, glancing over his shoulder at Dante and Nero. "Do you know how to drive?"

With a frown, both Dante and Nero nodded. They didn't know why Cloud was asking but they figured that they were about to find out anyway. "Yeah. Why do you ask?" Nero asked, flipping his bangs back out of his eyes.

Cloud just shook his head as he touched the hand panel, activating it to open. He didn't say anything, knowing that the demons could figure it out in a second anyway. Slowly, with a loud rubble, the storage door rolled upward, revealing a dark compartment. There was something inside it, several somethings in fact. But it was pretty dark to see anyway. "Dante, do you remember all that Materia we used to have for fighting?" Cloud asked, receiving a short nod from the Demon Hunter. "Well, both Reeve and Shelke have been working together to find better uses for them than just fighting. We still use them, yeah. But not the Summon Materia. They've actually found a way of using them for transportation." The blonde looked back at the darkened compartment. "With their help, Cid helped build these with their very own special designs. They don't get used often because we're always in the Shera, but why don't you meet our demon bikes."

Then a dim light flickered on, revealing what was inside.

Inside the cargo unit were six motorcycles, and very nice ones too. Cloud's original bike was in the front with the other five behind it. It was the same one he always rode around on; Fenrir. The others were somewhat like Fenrir, but they really did have different designs on them. One on Fenrir's right was a solid black one with unusual red designs on the frame, looking rather like the pendant on Vincent's gun. There were three headlights though for the bike. Each one were set in metallic dog heads, serving as eyes for all three. The bike on Fenrir's left side was very similar to Clouds, only it was painted black with brilliant golden yellow lightning bolts running along the sides, the handlebars and the exhaust pipe. The three behind them were definitely much different. They looked more like speed bikes than anything else, and very powerful. The one directly behind Fenrir, in between the other two was a blood red bike with black lines running down the frame. The handlebars had a skeletal look about them and there was a skull on the front with the lights as its eyes. That one, Dante decided silently, he liked a lot. It seemed to match his personality in his point of view. The bike on the red one's right sigh was the smallest but still a very fast looking bike. It was an icy blue color with ice like designs all over it. On the front, the headlights looked like any other headlights but it was icy blue. For some reason, Nero liked that one. And the last bike, was a steel gray one with a dragon design. On the sides of the frame were demonic like wings, while the head lights were set inside a dragon head's mouth. All six of them were magnificent looking.  
And to make everything more surprising, Cloud smirked at the demon hunters as he slapped a hand against the door frame. "Wake up, everyone. We have company." He said to no one in particular. At least that's what Dante, Nero and Zack thought at first. Until the bikes rumbled to life all on their own.

The headlights on all of the bikes flashed on, yet dimly so to not blind the people before them. But they were all humming to life, as if they were waking up from sleeping. It was like they really were alive. And when Cloud, Denzel, Vincent and Marlene moved out of the way, and the bikes actually rolled out of the compartment on their own, the two half demons and the swordsman realized the truth. The bikes were alive.

Dante whistled as he watched the six bikes roll past him before they all turned around and lined up before the seven. He was impressed. He had never seen a motorcycle actually alive before, but this was definitely something amazing. "Now, that is what I call real bikes." He said smirking. Nero just stared at the rumbling motorbikes with awe. He had never seen anything like these before. Sure he had seen a suit of armor come to life after being possessed by demons, but a motorcycle? "How...How are they moving on their own? Are they really..." He was asking, still too amazed.

Cloud nodded as he flickered his blue eyes over to the young knight. "Yeah. They're possessed by a demon, I guess you can say." He looked back at Dante, was looking each of the bikes over. The blonde motioned towards the bikes, as if telling them to move closer. Five of them did while the blood red one stayed back. It didn't seem to be friendly at all. Cloud then patted Fenrir on the handlebars before pointing at a red orb embedding on the gas tank where it was usually filled up. "These are our demon bikes. They don't run on gas, oil, or even Mako. They actually run on the very spirit that possesses them. A few years back, Shelke was studying the functions of the material. Normally, Materia is just plain old magic. The Curative, life and Elemental Materia are only magic. But the summon Materia on the other hand," The blonde shook his head, his hand still on Fenrir. "They are completely different. Shelke discovered that within the Summon Materia there are spirits within them. And she believes that they are demons in some way. They even admit that they are. So, in some way, Dante, there were demons here before you came here. Well, anyway, Shelke began messing around with the Materia, studying the demons and eventually found a way to place it inside a machine, like Fenrir, here, and it granted the spirit access to control the machine. This one, in fact," Cloud said, looking down at his bike again. "This Materia is one I found only two years after you left, Dante. It possesses Fenrir, a summon we haven't even found yet until then. As you know, Zack can turn into a wolf, right?"

Dante nodded looking very interested. This was definitely something he needed to pay attention to. Of course he remembered that Zack could turn into a wolf. It was just something he did. He glanced over at the black haired swordsman and saw a very fascinated look on his face. "Are you telling me you've manage to actually find Fenrir's Materia?" he asked.

Cloud nodded with a small smile on his face. He looked down at the Materia in Fenrir's tank and tapped it. "Yeah. I found him in the Nibelhiem Mountains. He's told me that he has been wandering around with the Materia on him so that's why he was never easy to find before. He is a wolf demon spirit that just wanders around. Anyway, Shelke discovered that if junctioned to a bracer slot on a machine, the demon spirits can come to life in a way. Controlling the machine's very own movements. It was then she began working with my bike. She gave it a junction slot and junctioned Fenrir's Materia into it. Then my motorcycle just came to life. So she did it with the others. She's still working on the rest but these six are the originals. Each of these demon bikes have their own personalities and thoughts. They chose to help us defeat demons, because that's what they do." He shook his head. "So far, we have the demon bikes but they've been a great help to us. They are very powerful weapons and very intelligent. They've helped us get to places quickly and kill demons." He told them all.

Denzel nodded as he decided to pitch in his saying. "And they all have their names." He went over to the lightning bike, running his hand over the shiny frame. "This is Ramah, the Lord of Lightning and Sage of Storms." He announced.

"This is Cerberus." Vincent said as he quietly went over to the red and black dog bike.

Cloud nodded as they looked at the other three. He pointed at the motorbike with the dragon head. "That's Bahamut. He's a little moody and difficult to handle but he means well. When he lets you ride him, it's like flying." He told the half Demons and Zack. He then pointed at blood red bike. "Now that one you have got to be careful around. He's really grumpy and has a nasty temper. He's the hardest one to ride. I've never been able to ride him. No one but Barret has ever ridden him. He lets Marlene ride him once in a while but even she can't control him very well. His name is Hades. He's pretty much a Gatekeeper of the Underworld, or that's what he says.

Dante was smirking as he looked at the blood red bike before folding his arms. "Hades, huh? Well, I bet you I can ride him." He said, rather smug about it. Cloud snorted as he folded his own arms and looked squarely at the Demon Hunter. "Good luck getting on him, Dante. You manage to ride Hades for five minutes, I you can have him." He told the white haired half demon.

Then Marlene went over to the last one, the icy blue one and patted its handlebars. "And this sweetheart is Shiva. She's the only girl one right now and she really is a sweety. She's the Goddess of Ice, but she's really not as cold as her powers are. She's really warm hearted actually." She announced. The bike hummed softly as if saying thank you to her.

"Okay. Well, we best be going then. Out of you three, Dante, Nero and Zack, you can choose out of Shiva and Bahamut. You might have to double up though. Denzel usually rides Ramuh and Vincent's always with Cerberus. Marlene, you can either ride with Denzel or pair up with someone on Shiva." Cloud told everyone as he mounted Fenrir. Marlene just shrugged as she went over to Denzel and Ramuh. "I'll ride with Denzel. Shiva really can't hold two people. Well, she can but she prefers not to." She said. So both Nero and Zack went over to one of the bikes; Nero had picked Shiva and Zack had chosen Bahamut.

Dante, however, stood directly in front of Hades, who began to grind his engine in a challenging way. "I'll ride this one." He announced, smirking at the demon bike.

"Dante, I meant it what I said. Hades is a real mean one. I wouldn't even try it if I were you." Cloud warned as he sat down on Fenrir.

"Luckily, you aren't me, Cloud. Otherwise, you'd probably get killed on this guy." Dante said as he waved a hand at the blonde as if dismissing him. Then he began to rotate his shoulders, working the kinks out of them. Then he clenched his fists until they cracked. He looked as if he was getting ready to fight something. The Demon Hunter grinned before snapping into a stance as if he was going to fight. "He can't be more a bastard than me." He then motioned to the motorbike, grinning. "Come on, little bicycle. Let's see what you've got."

"Dante." Cloud said warningly.

But it was too late; Hades was pissed off by the insult.

With a roar of rage, the demon bike kicked into high gear and charged at Dante, leaving a long skid mark against the metal floor. Smoke burst out of the exhaustion pipes and left a long trail as the bike sped towards the Demon Hunter. The other demon bikes with their riders, quickly backed away, knowing that there was going to be a fight.

Dante just grinned as he quickly moved out of the way, avoiding the bike as it tried to ram him. He spun on his heel to face Hades as the bike whirled around in a doughnut, leaving a perfect black circle on the floor. The bike roared as it charged again. This time, Dante stood his ground, in a defense crouch. But then he jumped into the air, letting Hades speed right under him and he ran along the back of it. Once the bike passed by him, the white haired Demon Hunter landed heavily onto his feet but then leapt into the air as Hades had decided to kick it into reverse to hit him from behind. Dante did a flip right over Hades and landed a few feet away. As he had fallen, he had yanked off his red coat and began flapping it at Hades as if he was a bull fighter. "Oo-la!" He taunted it.

"Jeezus, Dante. Are you really trying to piss him off?" Zack called to him, with amusement. He was sitting on Bahamut's seat while Nero was sitting on Shiva, his demonic arm resting on his knee.

Dante just shot him a grin as he snapped his red coat at Hades again, in a very challenging way. Hades was starting to rampage now. The eyes in the skull were now glowing fiery red and there was actual fire and smoke exploding from the exhaust pipe. The Demon Hunter knew he was really pushing the demon bike's buttons. But with a challenging look in his eyes, Dante nodded. "Come and get it." He challenged before he tossed his jacket up into the air and spun in a full circle. At the same time, Hades' wheels squealed as he charged at Dante. For a moment, it looked like the demon bike was going to ram into him. It even made Marlene gasp in alarm when it came too close to Dante. But this was Dante the Demon Hunter after all. He easily slid his arms into his jacket sleeves before spinning around and catching Hades' handlebars, letting his boots squeal against the ground as he began a shoving contest with the demon bike. But the looks of it, they were shoving each other very hard, but Dante was keeping Hades at bay very well.

"How about we take this outside, huh, big guy?" Dante asked smirking at the bike before he quickly lift both feet and slammed them down on the foot pedals riding the front of the bike. Hades began speeding around the room, trying to throw Dante off. Dante kept a firm grip on the handlebars as he began to fight with the bike to control it right outside into the open night.

Quickly, the others followed, along with anyone else who had heard the commotion. They wanted to see how exactly Dante was going to win, or lose, this fight with the meanest demon bike they had. Even Shelke was there, watching with interest.

The demon bike was speeding around the field with Dante holding on to the front. It was leaving tire tracks all over the grass, tearing up the ground pretty badly as it began to drive through a few bushes to help knock the Demon Hunter off. Dante, however, just laughed at its efforts.

That is until Hades ran through a dip in the ground, making the white haired Demon Hunter bounce heavily on the front. He came very close to slamming down on the front tire though, luckily not doing so. "Whoa!" Dante yelled out as he saw that he was only a centimeter from the tire, and getting a road burn in the between. "Man! You really are pissed, aren't you? Playing dirty like that, I might not even get to have kids in the future if you keep that up." He chuckled before he kicked off the foot pedals hard and spun head over feet into the air over the handlebars. Then Dante came down onto the seat of the demon bike, standing on its back while holding onto the handlebars. The demonic bike really went into a frenzy now. He began to speed around and buck as if trying to throw the Demon Hunter off. Dante only held tighter while still whooping with laughter. He was actually cheering the demon bike on to throwing him off. But like always, and being who he was, the half demon kept a very good balance on the bike. He was riding around on Hades like a surf board.

His audience was growing very worried though as they watched as Hades began to speed off of bumps and hills while trying to throw Dante off. They hoped that the half demon knew what he was doing, and he wouldn't get himself killed. Nero, however, just smirked as he folded his arms and shook his head. "Show off." He muttered.

Finally, the steam seemed to run low on Hades for it finally slowed down to a stop, growling but it had stopped trying to throw Dante off, who plopped right down on the seat, grinning. He then glanced over just as a small hellgate opened up and a few demons jumped out. They must have sensed the excitement going on and decided to come investigate. Grinning, Dante grabbed Hades' handlebars and tossed his head towards the demons. "Come on, buddy. Show me what you've got. Sick 'em!" He told it as he held on tight.

The demon bike growled but then roared to life as it spun in a doughnut, charging at the demons. The rear tire kicked up heavy dirt before leaving a trail as it charged at the demons. Dante let go of the handlebars as he yanked out his twin guns and began firing at them and blowing them to pieces. A few minutes later, Hades came to a halt right in front of the others, grinning at them. All five of his companions were smirking or shaking their heads. They were all amused, though in Denzel's case, jealous of his control over the mean demon bike. There was no way they couldn't be impressed. "Trust you to tame the untamable, Dante." Vincent said with a smirk.

Not longer than ten minutes, the six demon bikes were speeding through the green fields and rushing through streams. They were going very fast to get to their destination. And they really had to hurry. They needed to get to Rocket Town before it was completely destroyed. Cloud was in the lead with both Dante and Vincent right next to him and the others in back. Marlene was riding on Shiva behind Denzel, much to his pleasure.

But he really didn't have time to enjoy himself.

For when they finally reached Rocket Town, they came to a complete halt and stared with shock at the mess before them. Half of the town was in flames while the other half still stood. There were several demons in the town, terrorizing the people. The large demon was making the worst mess. It was rather large, almost the size of a five story house. It did resemble a large spider in a way, but it also had the look of a scorpion. Two large pinchers was tearing into fiery buildings, looking for more people to eat. A long tail was whirling around back and forth behind it. It was a pretty nasty looking demon though.

"Well, that's one crabby demon." Dante said looking at the demon before them.

The others only glanced at him before they shook their heads at the joke. They knew better than to egg Dante on. Cloud only stared up at the demon before he pushed a button on Fenrir's handlebars, ejecting the secret compartments where he kept his swords. He began pulling what ones he had there out and placing them into the leather sheath on his back. "Time to roast some lobster." He said quietly. The two half demons and his friends nodded as they sped forward. "Let's take out the small fry first!" The blonde swordsman added as they lurched forward.

It only took them five minutes to kill the smaller demons and get to the large one. But when they did approach it, it immediately stopped hunting for more humans to eat and looked down at the fighters with its eight eyes. It made a nasty gurgling sound, as if it was drowning but it stopped when it saw Dante and Nero.

**"I smell the blood of Sparda!"** It gurgled in rage.

Dante snorted with humor as he glanced over at Nero, who looked back. "Oh great. He knows dad too." He said sarcastically. Nero just smirked before folding his arms over his chest and looking up at the demon standing before them.

**"You two!!" **The crab spider demon gurgled as it pointed a pincher towards the Half demons. **"The blood of Sparda runs through your veins! The blood of the traitor! I will taste the blood of Sparda! I must eat Sparda's power!" **

Dante made a face as he reached up and grabbed the handle of his Rebellion. He obviously had heard that line way too many times. "Okay, if I charged every demon that ever said that, I'd be rich by now." He glanced over at the others. "Bored, yet? Or should we really get this party started?" He asked. Nero and the A-Team nodded as they climbed off their demon bikes and whipped out their weapons.

"Oh yeah. I'm definitely bored. Let's have some crab tonight!" Marlene said as she yanked out her guns and began firing at the demon. The six immediately leapt forward and began their reign of attacks on the demon. The demon squealed as it began to lash out to hit the group but missed them as they dodged the pinchers. The men were the ones to rush in while Marlene stayed back, firing off rapidly with her guns. The bullets, unfortunately, bounced right off its hard shell.

"Looks like we're going to slice and dice this spider!" Nero said as he rose his demonic arm. "Though, he's a little too high to attack! So I'm bringing him down!" He then threw his arm upward as if he was going to grab the giant crab.

There was a sudden flash of blue as a larger blue arm appeared above him, lashing out at the demon. It grabbed the demon by the face and yanked downward into the ground, where everyone charged forward and began to attack it. Every slash they did to it seem to make it madder though. It began to thrash around angrily, making the most horrible noise. It didn't really help it when Marlene started firing her guns at it's eyes. Vincent rolled under a swinging pincher before leaping to his feet and joining her to shooting the demon in the eyes, trying to blind it.  
With a smirk, Marlene turned sharply and ran towards a high beam where construction had been going on. She didn't look back once as she began running up the side before kicking off it towards the demon. The demon growled as it swung a pincher towards her, almost hitting her. But before it could connect, Denzel jumped high into the air and blocked the pincher's path with his large sword. Then he shoved it off hard before slicing the giant blade and cutting the pincher right off. With an icy blue light swirling around him, Denzel glanced quickly over his shoulder at Marlene to make sure she was a safe distance away before he heavily swung his blade towards the demon. "Buster Blast!" He bellowed and a sharp blast of energy shot toards the demon, slicing into it.

The demon roared in pain before thrashing around. It's pinchers and tail was slamming into fiery buildings while in its tantrum. It was cut short when both Cloud and Zack jumped high into the air side by side blocking the pinchers as they tried to smash into a house. Glancing at one another, the two swordsmen grinned at one another before lashing out an empty hand towards one another. Zack grabbed Cloud's hand and then threw him hard towards the demon. Speeding through the air, Cloud quickly grabbed all of his swords and locked them together before he sliced right through the demon, leaving a trail of blue flames. There was a huge explosion from all of the energy being used.

"Hmm." Dante said hummed thoughtfully as he stood right next to Nero and Vincent. He was enjoying the view of this fight. He had to admit, Denzel and Marlene's skills were impressive. And Cloud still had what it takes. "Nero," He said looking over the other white haired Half demon. "Let 'em fly."

Nero nodded as his demonic arm started glowing hot blue before he ran towards the demon and thrust out his arm. The blue energy arm lashed out and punched the demon hard into the air, nearly flying fifty feet up before a rain of bullets began to rain down onto it. Above the demon, Dante and Vincent had jumped high into the air and was firing off their guns at the demon.

Just then, Marlene appeared behind them, jumping onto their shoulders and making them look up at her. The young teen girl just smiled sweetly at them as she stood on their shoulders before she rose the huge fire arms to her shoulder; a missile launcher. "You've just been hunted, demon." She said in her sweet way before she pulled the trigger. There was a huge explosion as the missile was launched. It sped through the air towards the demon, who was still surrounded by Cloud, Denzel, and Zack. But when they saw the missile coming, they immediately leapt out of the way before the missile collided with the demon.

The explosion was huge. That was all that could said about it. The entire town was lit up by the flames' light. Even the mountains were lit up. Smoke and fire curled into the sky like a mushroom cloud before red light was shimmering above the town. The demon was no doubt gone.

A moment later, it was all quiet. The entire town of Rocket was safe, other than it was half burning. But even the townspeople were jumping into action to put out the flames with Water spells. In the town square, all seven fighters were standing together, looking around up at the red night sky putting their weapons away or resting them against their shoulders. After a minute, all of the men turned and looked at Marlene, who still had the missile launcher resting on her shoulders and she was giggling at the sight she just made. However, when Dante whistled his approval, she smiled at him. "Where in the world did you get that, Marlene? And where were you hiding it?" The Demon Hunter asked before pausing. He then made a face. "Actually, scratch that. I don't want to know where you were hiding it."

Both Nero and Zack smirked and shook their heads while Cloud and Vincent rolled their eyes. Denzel glared at Dante. And Marlene was smiling before she innocently pointed over her shoulder at the Weapons Shop. The front window was smashed to bits and it was clear that something had been taken from it. The shop owner was also making his way over to reclaim the weapon or sell it but Marlene just held it out to him, giving him a wink. "Thanks! It works great! I think it might just become a best seller." She said innocently.

Again, all of the men, but Denzel smiled shaking their heads. Denzel was the only one who didn't approve of what Marlene did. Though it was because deep inside, he envied her for being the one to destroy the demon. And then again, he was impressed by her actions. But still, he wasn't happy. "Marlene, that was too reckless. You could have gotten hurt pulling that stunt." He spoke up dryly. Everyone looked at him with surprise. Dante had almost forgotten he was even there. The kid was so quiet that he was not very noticeable. He didn't usually say anything anyway. However, the look on Marlene's face was too noticeable. She did not look happy that Denzel said that at all. In fact, she was glaring at him with her fists balled up tightly. "What?" She asked with offense.

"You could have been seriously hurt, Marlene." Denzel repeated dryly. He ignored Dante when the Demon Hunter began waving at him to shut up. He didn't seem to realize that he was starting to make Marlene mad. "That missile launcher was too big for you. What if it malfunctioned? You could have been killed using. You should have just….."

Marlene gave him a very dangerous look as she placed her hands onto her thin waist. "What, stay back and watch you guys have all the fun? I don't think so, Denzel! I'm apart of Avalanche too! I can fight just like you can! Why do you always think I'm going to get hurt?!" She asked angrily. Denzel eyed her thoughtfully, though it was more like mocking her before he lashed out a hand and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him. Then he forced her to turn a little to the side and pulled up her shirt a little to reveal a very nasty scar running from her belly button to her back. By the looks of it, it had once been life threatening. "That's why, Marlene." The young swordsman said.

"Where in the hell did that come from?" Dante asked, now all humor was gone.

Marlene jerked away from Denzel, shoving her shirt back down to hide the scar from sight while glaring at her best friend. She was not hideous that he had just shown that scar to them, especially to Dante. "It's nothing, Dante." She told him as she turned away. Dante only frowned as he folded his arms and stared at her. "That scar doesn't seem like nothing. Where did you get it?"

Marlene shook her head as she walked towards the demon bikes. She did not want to have this conversation. "I said it was nothing."

Dante frowned as he just stared after her before he turned and gave Denzel a serious look. He wanted to know what happened right now. "Denzel." He said quietly. Denzel frowned as he looked at the demon hunter before shaking his head and folding his arms. "She tried to use a buzzsaw as a weapon against a demon and the blade bounced right back at her." He said simply. At his words, Marlene whirled around and glared fiercely at him. She was very angry now. The look on her face even made Denzel step back in alarm. "Denzel!" She shouted.

"A buzz saw? Well, that's not exactly what I'd use, Marlene. That's really kind of risking it. Especially if your human." Dante said skeptically.

Marlene groaned in rage and frustration before she pointed at Denzel. "Denzel! Why did you have to go and tell him that?! I told you that night that you were not to ever tell Dante when he came back! You promised! Remember?!" She yelled at him. Denzel winced as if she had branded a whip at him. And in a way, he had. She had snapped a verbal whip towards him. He had opened up an obvious wound for Marlene, and even Dante had seen that. He was already moving forward to make Marlene stop ranting now. "Marlene, I'm sorry…" Denzel was saying.

"Oh forget it! You obviously didn't think! You never do or you do it too much!" Marlene said angrily before she looked up when a loud humming sound was coming towards them. The Shera was now flying towards them. So obviously Cid had gotten the ship back online. With another sharp look at Denzel, Marlene turned and ran towards the ship, not wanting to be anywhere around her friend right now. Dante glanced back over at Denzel to see how upset he looked now. He could see that the kid had a lot of guilt and pain on his face now. 'Jeezus. The kid's got it bad.' He thought before glancing over at Nero. "Just like someone I know." He muttered before he followed everyone to the ship.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**Time to Hunt Again  
Chapter 8**

That night was not easy on anyone when the seven fighters climbed back onto the airship and informed the rest what had happened. It wasn't really easy for any one of them to be around Marlene or Denzel when they were in the same room. The young girl kept shooting her best friend dangerous looks and Denzel kept looking away, as if he was afraid to look at her. But later on, Marlene left the cockpit and straight to her room, looking even more furious.

Later, once everything was starting to settle down, Nero had decided to go wandering around the airship. He had never been in something like this before. The latest thing he had ever been in was a giant statue who acted as if it was God but never any type of machine. He would have been with Dante but the demon hunter was with Lucia while she was resting and he did not want to bother them right now. He knew that the red wearing half demon didn't want to be bothered when he was in one of his moods right now. So he decided to just wander on his own now while everyone was doing their own things.

"Marlene……I said I was sorry."

Nero frowned as he immediately halted in the corridor. He could hear that young man, Denzel from around the corner. It sounded like he was trying to apologize to Marlene for earlier.

Curiously, Nero took a quick look around the next corner to find that the two teenagers were standing together, facing one another. But neither one were facing the half demon so they wouldn't notice him. He figured that it was better to just leave them alone, but he was curious on how this would turn out.

"Don't bother, Denzel!" Marlene said angrily, her arms folded. "You always do that. Everything I do, you always look down at all that I do. You always lecture me if I do something dangerous." She looked up at him, somewhat annoyed. "Well, guess what, Denzel?! I'm apart of Avalanche too! I can fight on my own! I don't always need you! And you're just mad because I'm the one who killed the demon!"

Denzel shook his head as he gave Marlene a forlorn look while putting his hand onto his waist. "No, I am not. I'm mad at you because you could have gotten hurt. I just wish you would be more careful. I don't want to see you hurt yourself, Marlene." He told her. There was a long pause before he continued nervously. "You're just so careless and so clumsy."

Hidden, Nero winced as he shook his head. He knew that was the wrong thing to say to Marlene. It was not smart to say that to any girl, more than less her. He knew that this was not going to end well at all for the younger swordsman. He could already sense the dark look on Marlene's face before he even seen it. And even Denzel faltered before he could finish his sentence.

"Denzel! I will not hurt myself! I was only a kid when that incident with the buzz saw happened! But now I am 16 years old now! I've taken shooting lessons from Vincent! I've learned martial arts from Tifa! I can put together any weapon because Reeve taught me how! I am apart of Avalanche too!" Marlene said angrily. "And that incident with the buzz saw was our business, not Dante's! You had no right to tell him! I did not want him to know!"

Impatiently, Denzel looked away, muttering something under his breath. Even though it was pretty quiet, Nero heard Dante's name and he was sure Marlene did too.

"What?! What was that, Denzel?" Marlene asked angrily.

Denzel looked at her quite flustered. He knew he was treading dangerous waters when it came to the subject about Dante. But he was getting tired of arguing right now. "I said I'm tired of hearing about Dante. It's always Dante this, Dante that! I know he saved our lives from Jenova but I'm getting tired of you fawning over him, Marlene! You talk as if you're in love with the guy." He said with annoyance.

"And what if I am, Denzel?! What if I am in love with Dante?!" Marlene asked annoyed. "What if I do want to spend my life with him?! What business is it of yours anyway?! It's not like you're in love with me!"

Denzel opened his mouth to argue but stopped himself very quickly when it hit him of what she just said. He looked rather flabbergasted at her words and even choked on his own but he couldn't respond to that comment after that. "Wh-What?" He stammered.

Marlene slowly nodded as she folded her arms tightly around her and she tilted her head to the side. She seemed to have caught him in the middle of something. And Nero realized it. She was well aware of his feelings for her but she was just waiting for Denzel to just say the words. "Go on, Denzel. Just say it. Say that you love me." She told her best friend. Denzel's mouth moved up and down like a fish's but no words came out. He was breathing rapidly while his mind raced. He wanted to say something. But the words were lodged in his throat. He couldn't get them out. But after a while, he lowered his head sighed. "I….You know I can't, Marlene. You know I can't tell you that I…not without…" He cut himself off before turning away. "I just can't." He then walked off, leaving a very forlorn and hurt looking Marlene. She stared at Denzel as he vanished down the hall into the cabins, before sighing and lowering her head. She was hurt, there was no doubt about that.

Around the corner, Nero rolled his eyes and folded his arms as he turned slightly away. He couldn't believe that idiot. Here he had the chance to finally admit his true feelings for his best friend and he totally blew it. He choked. But why? Nero knew that Denzel cared for Marlene. What was the dork waiting for? Why couldn't he just tell Marlene that he loved her? This really annoyed the young Knight. But then again, in a way, it did remind him of himself when he had been in love with Kyrie. It was almost the same position he had been in before……

"You can come out now." Marlene murmured.

With a frozen frown, Nero stood there before he realized that she was talking to him. He made a face as he slowly turned the corner and looked at the young teen girl, who had her arms folded over her chest and she looked at him with a forlorn look. But she didn't look too surprised to see him. It was like she had known he was there the entire time. He was surprised though, that she knew. But after a second, she looked down at the ground, nodding. "Your shadow." She said as if reading his mind.

Nero looked down to see that in deed his shadow was there and with his right arm shaped like it was, it was obviously him. He made a face before looking at her again. "I didn't mean to pry. I wasn't trying too."

"I know." Marlene said before sighing and dropping her arms. She turned slightly away and went over to one of the windows, looking out. "I just don't understand that man. I know he loves me but why won't he just say it? He acts like he doesn't love me at all. Am I imaging things? Does he not like me or what?" She asked in a low voice.

Nero shook his head as he walked forward and stood next to her looking out the window with her. "Nah. He loves you. I can tell. I think Dante can too. Some guys just have weird ways of showing that they love someone. Maybe he's afraid that you'll reject him. Some are like that. They won't tell someone that they love them out of fear of rejection." He told her. Marlene smiled at him as she tilted her head towards him. She looked rather curious but knowing at the same time. "I suppose you're speaking out of experience, aren't you?" She smiled even more when the Half Demon looked away a faint blush on his cheeks. "So what was her name?"

"…..Kyrie. Her name is Kyrie. We're together now, in some sense." Nero told her quietly, but there was a smile on his face.

Marlene just smiled at the name. She really liked it, though she was in sense a little jealous. It was a very pretty name and wished hers was somewhat like it. "Kyrie, huh? That's really pretty. She must be a very lovely girl." She said. Nero's face really softened as he heard that. He nodded in agreement as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a snapshot of Kyrie, then showed it to Marlene. "That's her." He murmured to her softly.

"OH! She's beautiful!" Marlene said brightly as she looked at the picture. She had to admit it herself. But she did envy this girl for her looks. It was no wonder that Nero loved her so much. "She must have had several guys going after her. But she was wise enough to choose you, Nero." She said smiling at the Half Demon.

Nero looked away, a pink tinge on his cheeks. He was somewhat embarrassed by her remark but flattered. He had never thought of himself as a good looking guy but he was grateful that Kyrie had sure thought so. And even more when Marlene did. But his face fell again when he remembered exactly why he had come to this place anyway. He looked back at his picture of Kyrie, a sad look in his eyes again. "She's in danger, I know it." He saw Marlene's face fall with surprise and he nodded. "That's why I came here. She was taken from my city, Fortuna City, pulling into some kind of gate." He said shaking his head. "I came here hoping to find her. And I have to. I have to save her. I promised her even before we got together that I would not ever let her be in trouble."

Marlene watched him for a minute, noting how determined he was, yet she could see the pain in the Half Demon's eyes. He must have really loved this Kyrie. And she really couldn't blame him. The girl was extremely beautiful and by the looks of her, she was also very kind and gentle. Just like Aeris had once been before her life was ripped away from the Planet by Sephiroth. "I'll help you find her, Nero." She announced.

Nero looked at her in surprise but then he faintly smiled. "Thank you, Marlene." He told her.

There was a long pause as the two stared at one another, then they turned their eyes back onto the window, looking out at the night sky. Nero folded his arms as he remembered the argument between Marlene and Denzel. "So, you're in love with Dante, huh? Well, he's good looking enough but really unreliable. Are you sure you want that guy?"

"Hmm. I love Dante, Nero. But it's not like what you think. The love I have for him is more like a brother sort of love. And it's the same way with Vergil too. I like them as if they were my older brothers." Marlene said not even looking at him.

Nero blinked in surprise before he turned to look at her with question. He was well aware that Vergil had been pretending to be this Luke Caine guy but how did Marlene know? Didn't she think that his name was Luke? "You know who Vergil is, right?"

"Yeah. I've always known who Luke was. We met nearly ten months ago and it was my idea that he concealed his true identity from everyone in the first place. It was because he said he wasn't too popular with some people." Marlene shrugged as she kept her eyes adverted away from Nero. "He didn't tell me he was Dante's brother though. He never said a word. I liked him because he looked like Dante. And he is my friend. A really cool tempered one but he has been pretty nice to me." She told him.

Nero tilted his head to the side while still looking at Marlene. He had never met the notorious Vergil of course but he had heard stories. In fact, the katana he carried, Yamato belonged to the Half Demon. And he was sure that Vergil would want it back now that he was alive. "How did you two meet anyway?"

Marlene just shook her head as she turned her eyes back onto Nero, looking thoughtful. "It was right before my father disappeared. I was patrolling the streets of Midgar for any demons and I was attacked by some really nasty ones. Usually I can handle demons all right. But there was sure a lot of them for me to take." She told him. "Well, before the demons could seriously hurt me, Vergil showed up out of no where and killed them. He told me he had been walking the roof tops of the buildings above me, watching me. I asked him why but he wouldn't say. He just said that he felt like it. Anyway, we got talking to one another and I told him that he reminded me of a friend of mine. He didn't ask me who. He just went quiet before asking me if I knew where he could find the man with silver hair." She nodded when Nero looked surprised. "I know. I was surprised too. I asked him why he wanted to find Sephiroth and he told me."

"What did he say?" Nero asked, a little seriously.

Marlene just smiled faintly as she looked back towards the window. "He said he was looking for the Legendary blade, Masamune. He wanted to take it from Sephiroth, to replace his stolen sword." She shrugged again, noting the surprise on Nero's face but not really paying attention. "I asked him why he wanted it and he said he wanted to use it to kill someone very dangerous and powerful. He told me it was the only blade other than his own that could kill his enemy." She said.

Again Nero frowned as he took the information but then glanced at her. "Dante?" He asked, curiously.

The young Gunslinger shook her head with a half shrug as she turned back towards him, facing the Knight. "I don't know. He wouldn't say who it was he was trying to kill. He just said that the one he hates the most did him wrong and he wanted to pay him back." She told him. "Well, I snuck him aboard the Shera to pretend to be a worker for Cid. At first no one noticed him but then when a bunch of demons showed up, attacking the airship, he had no choice but to help fight it. That was then everyone notice him. They didn't know who he really was because he changed his appearance and his name." Her eyes then narrowed a little. "And the only reason why he flirted with me and played around is because I asked him to. He was trying to help me get that blockhead Denzel jealous of him and admit his feelings. I really like Denzel. Just like he likes me, but girls never make the first move. I wish guys would just understand that."

Nero looked away with a slight blush on his cheeks. He had not really known that bit. He had always thought it was the girls who made the first moves, not the other way around. No wonder Kyrie hardly ever said anything before they were together. "So, um…..that kiss Vergil gave you then…..?" He was asking.

"The only reason why Vergil kissed me was because Denzel was pissing him off." Marlene said dryly, her eyes slightly narrowed. "He was talking a bunch of crap to Vergil and it just really made him mad. He flipped out on Denzel because the dork was saying something about how we were being stupid about being too close to one another without Barret's permission and how he would kill Vergil for touching things that didn't belong to him." The young girl grumbled under her breath a curse word but Nero figured it was better that he didn't know what she said. "Anyway, Vergil got really mad at Denzel and I swore he was going to kill him. I was afraid that he would so I grabbed his arm to hold him back. And that's when he swirled around and kissed me. And believe me it wasn't some friendly kiss either. It was a full out French."

Nero chuckled when he saw her now starting to blush. He knew what she was talking about. He had his fair share of French kisses with Kyrie. But this was a 16 year old girl who had had never been kissed before. Her first kiss had been a very passionate one that she was not ready for. "Ouch.." He murmured with amusement.

Marlene rolled her eyes, though she was seething by remembering the very memory. "You have no idea. I was so mad at Vergil for that. So Denzel wasn't the only one. But he never said anything. He just had this murderous look on his face before storming off in defeat. Once Vergil and I were left alone, I hit him so hard across the face that I cracked my knuckles. That guy has a friggen hard head!" She said, her arms folded tightly around her.

Again, Nero laughed at her reaction and he got punched in the shoulder for it. It didn't hurt but it wasn't soft either. "So Vergil didn't get mad that you punched him, right?"

"No. Not really. He just said that he deserved it. But that was after he said that I hit like a girl. I hit him again but it hurt my hand even more. So I didn't bother to do it again." Marlene said, with amusement. "Anyway, we acted as if nothing happened and he kept on flirting with me to try and get Denzel jealous But now, he's not here so I don't know what to do." Her eyes then grew bright as she looked at Nero next. "Hey! Can't you……"

"No." Nero said firmly, all humor completely gone. He knew what she wanted to ask of him. And he flat out refused. "I'm sorry, Marlene. I want to help you but I can't. It's better if I mind my own business when it comes to you and Denzel. I know you want him to make the first move, but I won't help you get him jealous. I have my own problems to solve right now. You should understand, can't you?" He asked.

Marlene paused before smiling and nodding. She did understand. She knew it wasn't fair on him to ask him to flirt with her to make Denzel angry and jealous when he had his own love. There was no way she could ask him to do it, now that she had a second thought about it. "Sorry, Nero. Maybe you're right. Denzel's too boneheaded to make the first move anyway. I don't know why he keeps hesitating but I'll find out. I'm going to tell him how I really feel about him. I will……." She was saying.

But a second later, Nero shut her up when he held up a hand, looking very alert. It was as if he sensed something not right. But that was because his demonic arm was no glowing bright blue; something it did when there were demons around. Nero quickly held up a hand towards Marlene, telling her to shush while he jerked around and searched the area with a serious look on his face. His other hand had lashed over his head and grabbed the handle of his Red Queen.

"What is it?" Marlene whispered, her hands already clutching her twin pistols.

Nero slowly shook his head as he moved closer to her, almost protectively while not letting his guard down. He wasn't too sure what it exactly was, but he knew it had to be a demon. "A demon." He muttered. "There's a demon somewhere here."

Suddenly there was the sound of metal scraping against metal making both jump and spin around. Lines of fire were slashed into the steel wall of the airship near where Marlene and Nero were standing, who both leapt back as soon as they saw it. There was an explosion that rocked the entire ship, sending smoke and dust flying up all around the two. But before Nero could react or anything, something very strong slammed into his middle, sending him flying backwards down the corridor until he hit the wall, leaving a huge dent in the metal. Marlene screamed as she spun around to see him but before she could run towards him to see if he was okay, a strong hand grabbed her wrist, holding her back. Quickly, she spun around, pulling one of her gun and slammed the nose into whoever it was before pulling the trigger. The bullet didn't miss. It hit its target dead on. Problem was, it didn't do anything to who it was because it was Sephiroth. The silver and black haired tyrant smirked coldly at her as she looked wide eyed up at him.

Before it had happened, Dante had been standing in Lucia's room, trying to think of what to do about the problem they had. He knew that they were running out of time. There was still two more days left before the Hell Gate in his world opened up. He knew that he needed to get back soon. He had hoped that he could just get the A-Team's help immediately, help him fix his problem but to find that there was a serious problem here too, he didn't like it.

That was when the eerie feeling came creeping up on him.

Dante frowned when he felt it. He remembered that feeling when he had been in the Shinra Mansion. When Sephiroth had been around. The Demon Hunter knew that it must have been Sephiroth. Who else would have a creepy feeling around him? Other than Vergil. But he doubted that it was his twin brother. Dante was already starting to straighten to go find out where the feeling was coming from when he heard the explosion and felt the entire ship rock.

Immediately, he bolted from the room to find out what was going on. He wasn't the only one. Doors were being thrown open and several people came out of their rooms, including the Avalanche team. They all looked at one another before they rushed down the hall with Dante and Vincent in the lead.

Not more than a minute later, they all found the giant hole in the side of the ship. Something big or very strong had caused it. They all knew that something dangerous had just been there.

Dante frowned as he examined the hole before jerking around when he heard movement. He turned with Vincent to see Nero pushing himself to his feet, groaning as he held his stomach. He staggered forward until he was near the group. "Nero! What happened?" Dante asked frowning.

"I have no idea." Nero groaned as he held his side. "One minute, I was talking to Marlene and the next there was this really eerie feeling in the air and my arm started glowing. After that, something sliced through the wall and hit me. And hard."

Everyone frowned as they tried to think of what might have hit the young Knight so hard before they looked around with sudden realization. They had not seen Marlene yet. And she was no where to be seen. But Nero just said that she had been here with him when it happened. "Marlene?!" Tifa called, looking frantically around. Immediately everyone started to look around while Dante just stood there staring at Nero. He was still a little surprised by what just happened. And to think that Marlene was missing, that didn't help either.

"Hey, guys! Dante! I think you better come see this!" Yuffie suddenly called.

The Demon Hunter and the others turned around to see Yuffie down the corridor staring up at the wall. With a frown all of them walked over to see what she was looking at and they froze. There was a message carved into the metal. Someone had actually written a note for them. Actually, it was for Dante.

_Dante,_

_Mt. Corel. Tomorrow before dusk. Be there or this lovely  
__little lady's blood will be spilt. And you don't want that,  
__now do you? _

_Sephiroth_

Everyone was stopped short when they saw the name, though Dante immediately started glaring at the name in the metal. He instantly knew that Sephiroth had been here and had taken Marlene captive. And he knew why. Now, the Demon Hunter was really pissed off. The others felt the same.

"Damn it! It's gonna take more than a sponge and soap water to get the mess off of my baby!" Cid immediately began to rant.

A few glanced over at Cid but most were looking at Dante. They saw the murderous look on his face. And they knew that he was no longer amused. He had lost all humor now. There was no way he was going to be joking around anymore. Not with Marlene in the clutches of Sephiroth. Of course, Nero wasn't looking at Dante like the others were. Instead, he had saw the look on Denzel's face. The look of excruciating pain. And he knew that was what the younger man was feeling. Pain. It was the same painful expression that Nero had felt when Kyrie had been taken by that blasted Agnus, man who had wished to become a demon. And even now he felt it because Kyrie was missing. So he knew how Denzel was feeling.

Cid was still ranting and raving about the carved message on his ship's walls when everyone else noticed how darker Dante's face was getting. They knew that the pilot better stop soon. "Cid, that's enough." Vincent said darkly. The pilot gave him a look but then noticed Dante so he shut up. He knew that it was not the time to complaining about his ship. The Demon Hunter, nor the young Swordsman that Cloud taught himself was in no mood for this right now.

Dante's head dipped lower as he glared daggers at the message for him. "So," He began in a dangerous tone. "Sephiroth wants to play that kind of game, huh?" He then laughed harshly as he lift his head again. He threw his hands above his head and clicked his fingers loudly. "All right. I'll play his little game. But I'm playing with my own rules." He turned around to see Lucia staggering against the wall. She looked a lot better than before but she still needed some rest. He knew that she must have heard the explosions and decided to come looking to see what had happened. "Luca, we're running out of time. Problem is, we have two problems to take care of. One, the demons in our world will probably come through the Hell Gates soon. Maybe even tomorrow. And two, Sephiroth will kill Marlene if I don't go meet with him tomorrow." He said shaking his head. "Either way, I've been backed into a corner. And that means a hell lot of trouble."

Vincent looked directly at him when Dante looked his way. He knew that the Demon Hunter was asking help on what he should decide. He didn't know what he could say to Dante. But they both knew that something needed to be done now.

"If it's any consolation," Shelke suddenly spoke up as she walked towards them out of the shadows. "I've found a way to seal the Hell Gate for a temporarily time period. It won't last too long but it should give you more time."

The entire group of fighters looked at her with interest. None of them had seen her coming but it was what she said that grabbed their attention. Especially Dante's. "You've found a way to close the gate?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. Shelke shook her head. "No. Not close the gate. Just been up a demon seal where they can't pass through. Like I said, it's only a short time period." She told him.

Slowly Dante nodded with some sense of satisfaction. It would have to work for now. It was all they had until he could take of the problem with Sephiroth. "All right. I'll take you through the portal to my world where you can seal the gate." He told her reaching up for his amulet.

"Don't be a fool." Shelke said in her calm tone, making Dante frown at her and Nero snort with amusement. "You don't have time to take me to your world, let me seal the Hell Gate and then return back here. By the time we return here, it will have been too late to save Marlene Wallace." She looked down at her arm computer and began pressing buttons. "I've done a scan of the Silver Materia with my computer and I've managed to copy the sequence to opening up the portal between our worlds. So I can just use my computer to open up the portals." She told him.

Dante was definitely impressed with this girl now. She had shown him that she was a whole lot more intelligent than he thought. And it was no doubt that she was more intelligent than he was. "All right then. I'll send you through. But," He turned to Lucia and Zack, smirking slyly at them. "I need my babies. Want to grab them for me, Zack?"

Zack just grinned as he immediately caught onto what Dante had in mind. So did Lucia, for she was smiling. "So you're bringing out your toys to play with Sephiroth, huh?" The swordsman asked. The only answer he got from the Demon Hunter was a grin.

"I shall go with him then, Dante." Lucia said as she tried to move forward. However, she groaned in pain as her knees gave out under her and she fell forward. Luckily, Dante quickly moved forward and caught her before she fell to the ground. "Oh. Sorry, Dante." She told him meekly. Dante just shook his head as he held her up in his arms. He gave her a look as if it was no big deal before looking at Cloud. "Cloud, they are going to need back up. I'm afraid my partners, Lady and Trish might get a little trigger happy if they see people they don't know. They know Lucia, but barely know Zack. And if there are demons," He cut himself.

Cloud only nodded as he rubbed his neck. "Yeah. I hear ya. I'll ask if Rufus and his Turks will escort Shelke, Zack and Lucia back to your world. They'll be more than capable to helping them." He explained.

The Demon Hunter only nodded with satisfaction before helping Lucia stand up straight then looking off. "All right then. As for me, I'll be heading out to this Mt. Corel. Denzel comes with though. I know for a fact he's going to want to save Marlene." He looked to the young swordsman, who looked at him and nodded sternly. "And I think it's better if Nero sticks with me too. Just to avoid more trouble from Vergil. Knowing him, he'll come after Yamato. And if he does, he's just going to give more trouble than anyone can handle." He said.

"Vergil's your twin brother, right?" Nero asked with a frown.

Dante just nodded as he met Nero's own icy blue eyes. "That's right. And I know for a fact that you will not be ready to fight him. If you can't beat me in a friendly sparring match, I can guarantee you that you will not be able to defeat Vergil in a life or death fight." He said and held up a hand when Nero opened his mouth to argue. "He will destroy you if he finds out you have his sword, Nero. No ands, ifs or butts about it. Just trust me, kid. You won't be ready to face him."

Nero shut his mouth. He wasn't entirely sure if it was true that Vergil could beat him and kill him, but then again, Nero had still yet to beat Dante in a real fight. And he was Vergil's twin brother. So it was more than likely that he wouldn't be able to beat the twin. "Well, if we're done talking then, let's get started." He said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

In Dante's world, the day had grown quite dark with only the red in the sky. The Hell Gate remained open and as they had guessed, the demons had decided to come out a little earlier than expected. It was probably the fact that they couldn't sense the Demon Hunter anywhere near the Gate. So they began to pour out of the Hell Gates in hordes. The air was full of smoke and the sounds of gunfire was practically the only sound that could be heard, other than the roars and moans of the demons. But still, the demons came out.

"Damn it! I'm running low on ammo!" Trish yelled to Lady as she was trying to blow demons away with her twin guns and powers of electricity. She was getting exhausted from using so much power.

Lady had taken cover on the roof of the building and was trying to blow the demons away with her Kalina-Ann. She was not liking this at all. There were too many demons and there were only two of them. "Then don't use your guns! Just go get them!" She yelled across the way to the blonde. She then watched as Trish swore loudly before sliding her guns away then charging the demons. Lady just smirked before she continued to blasting the demons.

However, sudden movement on her side caught her attention and she jerked her head over to see a demon jumping at her. Her teeth clenched tight, she started to swing her Kalina-Ann towards the demon but she knew it was too late.

Wham!

A long metal rod slammed into the demon's head, sending it flying backwards to the ground with a loud thud. Before it could get back up, a hard rubber soled shoe slammed onto the demon's back, holding it down as it squirmed under the owner's foot.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not a very nice thing are you, you demon bastard." Came a very cocky voice. "It's not very polite to attack a lady when she's not looking. In fact, that's cowardice."

Lady frowned as she slowly looked up to see who the cocky man was and she was somewhat surprised to see not only a cocky man, but a somewhat handsome cocky and slacker type man. His hair fiery red while pulled back in a messy ponytail and his eyes were an interesting shade of glowing green. He was wearing an untidy blue suit and didn't seem to care too much about his appearance.

"Who the hell are you?" She demanded.

The red head looked at her for the first time before pausing as he met her multicolored eyes under her yellow tinted sunglasses. He looked into her eyes for a minute before looking her over and grinning. The look over didn't sit too well with Lady though. She just glared at him as he took in his fill and almost had the urge to smash her boot into his fact. Until, he looked at her Kalina-Anne. "Well, hello, doll. That's a very big gun you have there, babe. Looks like you pack quite a punch with it."

"Do you want to see what kind of punch it has?" Lady asked threatening.

The red head just continued grinning as he shook his head. "Maybe later, babe. But the name's Reno. Dante sent me to help you. Came to help you out with your pest control problem. You are?" He asked her then offered her his hand.

Lady just gave him a dry look for the "babe" part but she decided that it was better than what Dante usually called her. So she reached up and took his hand, letting him pull her up. "Lady." She told him before she roughly pulled him towards her then yanked out her gun, shooting a demon that was sneaking behind the red head. It's head exploded on impact before flying backwards onto the ground, dead.

Reno was mildly surprised when she had yanked him towards her, making him stand very close to her before he turned slightly to see the dead demon. Then he grinned as he looked down at the lovely raven haired woman. "Lady, where have you been all of my life?"

"Shut up or I'll shoot you next." Lady said dryly but it was clear she was trying to hide her smile. She paused to see that they were now surrounded by demons, making her smirk as she slowly looked around with Reno. "Hmm. How good are you anyway?" She asked. Reno grinned as he turned completely away from her, holding his metal baton tightly in his hand. He looked mischievously around the ring of demons while pressing his back against Lady's. Then he said in a flirtatious way, "Why don't you just find out?"

Lady glanced over her shoulder before raising her Kalina Anne to her shoulder. She had a smirk on her face as she glanced over at the red head then began blasting away at the demons with Reno charging at the other ones.

With Trish, she was fighting as hard as she could against the demons, back flipping over several of the heads before blasting them with electricity. She was doing all right on her own, even though there were several around her. She was slowly running out of fighting room as she smashed heads with her blades. But when she jerked around when she heard another demon charging her, she rose a hand to attack.

However, there was a loud blast and shotgun pellets smashed into the demon's face, sending it flying backwards. Trish's head jerked around to see who had just helped her and to her surprise, there were several new faces, along with Lucia and Zack. But there was no sign of Dante. "Lucia!" She yelled before quickly ducking as the tall, black man with no hair rushed forward and smashed a fist into a demon's face. She was surprised that he was helping her but without a word, she and the strangers jumped into the action, while three people stayed behind. Two men and a young girl who didn't look older than 9 or 10 years old were staying behind everyone else as they found the demons. "Luce, what's going on here? Who are all these people and where the hell is Dante?!" Trish yelled to the lovely red haired woman.

"No time to explain! These are friends of Vincent Valentine, Dante's associate! They're here to help us!" Lucia yelled back as she sliced through demons.

Trish frowned but kept on fighting until she saw the young girl and the black haired man, obviously Shelke and Reeve, move towards the Hell Gate. She started but shook her head as she tried to go after them. "Hey! What are you doing?! Are you trying to die, kid?!" She called to Shelke, and was ignored.

The blonde man, Rufus Shinra, moved forward while blasting away at demons. "Trust me, Miss. Shelke is no kid and she knows how to take care of herself and of Reeve!" He told her.

The blonde Demon Hunter didn't believe him until she watched as a demon charged at Shelke and Reeve. She almost went over to save them but Rude grabbed a hold of her shoulder and shook his head. Trish frowned at him before looking over to see Shelke pull out her long rods from behind her legs, which immediately began to glow a golden Amber color. She just held them in a double handed fencing style before becoming a blur of gold as she began to move, slicing through demons. All the while, Reeve just calmly walked to the Hell Gate with some kind of object in his hand and began setting it up.

After nearly five minutes of working with Shelke's invention, Reeve never even worried about the demons that came at him. He just kept working with the small machine. The demons that did come after him were either blasted away by Rufus' shotgun, sliced and diced by Shelke's laser rods, or had daggers thrown into their faces by Knife. After the five minutes, Reeve turned around and looked at Shelke. "Shelke! The demon seal is in place! It's ready for activation!" He called.

Shelke nodded as she quickly placed her rods away and then typed away on her arm computer. The small screen flashed from green to red and a small light began to glow red on the seal. There was a flash of light as a barrier immediately shot out over the Hell Gate and then no demons could come through the gate anymore. There were roars of rage as demons tried to pass through the Hell Gate, only to hit the barrier and bounce right back in. "There." Shelke said with satisfaction as she put away her computer and then returned to fighting the remaining demons. "That should last for at least six days, buying Dante more time." She told them. Both Trish and Lady frowned as they glanced at one another but then returned to fighting.

Finally the fighting ceased and the demons were dead. Both Trish and Lady stood with the strangers and the two that they did know, looking interested and agitated. "All right, Lucia! Where the hell is Dante?! Don't tell me he's slacking off again!" The annoyed blonde said.

Lucia shook her head as she sighed. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain to Trish and Lady without them getting highly annoyed with Dante again. She remembered very well that the Demon Hunter always annoyed these two. But Rufus sure seemed to know what to say as he moved forward and held out a hand towards Trish. "Hello. I'm Rufus Shinra, Sponsor for the WRO, World Restoration Organization, and Co-Director." He told her then motioned to his Turks. "These are my body guards and friends, Knife, Reno and Rude."

All three Turks nodded to the two ladies, though Reno sent Lady a grin and a wink. Lady rose an eyebrow but there was a hint of a smirk on her face.

"This is Reeve Tuesti, the Commissioner of the WRO." Rufus continued, motioning to Reeve then over to Shelke. "And the girl is Shelke, a high sophisticated Intelligence Officer and member of Avalanche." He turned his cool blue eyes onto Trish and Lady again. "Dante sent us from our world to help you out a little while Shelke seals the Hell Gate. It's only temporarily but it will buy Dante some time while he…..he takes care of a problem. He also wanted use to grab something for him. Something he called his babies. Though I'm not entirely sure what he meant."

Both Lucia and Zack smiled as they looked the two confused ladies. The red haired beauty shook her head as she started down the road, towards the Devil Never Cry. "Dante wants all of his Devil Arms." She glanced over at everyone as they started to follow her down the road. "I'm afraid things have gotten very complicated in their world. Dante needs his Devil Arms to take care of a dangerous man there." She explained.

"Oh, god." Groaned Lady as she shouldered her Kalina Anne and followed after Lucia. "Trust Dante to get his ass into trouble again. What did he do this time?"

Reno snorted with humor as he tapped his stun baton against his leg. "The devil man went and challenged a psychotic nut case named Sephiroth to a fight and now he's trouble for it. Sephiroth wants to fight and kill him. And because Dante's avoiding him, he's kidnapped a girl that Dante cares for to get to him." He told the ladies.

Again, Lady and Trish groaned as they looked at one another. "Again, trust Dante to get his ass in trouble." Trish said, shaking her head. Then her glanced over her shoulder at the sealed Hell Gate. "So, the demons won't be able to come through the Hell Gate, right?"

"Yes." Shelke said with a nod. "For six days at least. It's a barrier I've created with technology. One of my normal inventions. It won't let a single demon come through until the generator runs out of power. By that time, Dante should have taken care of Sephiroth if he's as good as he boasts about."

Lucia nodded as she looked at her two friends. "Yes. And he has Nero to help him. So he should be all right." She said softly. Trish and Lady frowned when they heard the name but then the blonde smiled and shook her head. "Nero? I'm not even going to ask how he got involved. If that kid is there, then Dante will be just fine." The blonde said.

Lucia shook her head as she looked at them. "It's not just Nero. It's…..well. Vergil has also showed up. He got into a fight with Dante and is trying to get Yamato back."

That wiped the smirks off of Lady and Trish's faces. They frowned with alarm as they just stared at Lucia with wide eyes. "Vergil?! Are you kidding me?!" Lady asked. Trish stared at Lucia seriously. "Are you sure it's Vergil?"

"Yes. It's him. I've seen him." Lucia said gravely.

Trish nodded as she picked up her speed and went up the stairs of the Devil Never Cry. She was starting to understand it now. "No wonder why Dante wants his Devil Arms. If Vergil is around and causing trouble, then he needs them."

"Exactly what are these Devil Arms, anyway?" Reeve asked curiously as he and the others followed Trish up the stairs.

Trish only shook her head as she shoved the doors open to let everyone in building. She didn't pay attention to everyone as they froze when they entered Dante's shop. They hadn't exactly been expecting to see a room full of demon skulls on the walls. "What the….." Reno cut himself off as he looked around.

"Hell?" Rude finished for him.

The three lovely ladies smiled as they walked to the large desk in the room. They were amused by the other worlders' reaction to Dante's collection. "Oh. These are just Dante's collection of Demon heads. He has a habit of keeping something of each demon he kills." Trish said as she went around the desk and grabbed one of the demons' horn. There was a loud click as she pulled it down and the wall rolled away, revealing a hidden room.

The room was very large and it had weapons all over the walls or on counter tops. It was no doubt some kind of armory. There was so many weapons every where. It just amazed the strangers by all of the weapons.

"As for your question about the Devil Arms, these are Devil Arms." Trish said as she entered the room and then turned to face them. "They are the souls of certain demons who turned their selves into weapons for Dante. They mostly work only for Dante since he's the one who beat them in a fight but occasionally they'll work for us." Then she looked over at Lucia. "Which ones does he want, Luce?"

Lucia smiled as she shook her head with an innocent look on her face. "He didn't say."

Both Lady and Trish grinned as they looked at one another. "Well, in that case," The black haired beauty said. "He wants all of them. He must be planning on equipping Nero and Vincent Valentine with some of them."

Trish nodded as she looked around the room, as if trying to think something. "Hey. How are we going to carry them anyway?" She asked.

There was a brief pause between the ladies as they looked at one another. Then they looked over at Zack, for he was thinking about it too. But then all four of them smiled as if they thought of the very same thing. It was obvious that they did because the four of them nodded. "Pandora's Box." They all said at the same time. Then Trish went over to a medium sized brief case that seemed to be made out of metal and pulled off the counter.

"Uh…you really think that all of those weapons are going to fit that small box?" Reno asked, raising an eyebrow.

Both Trish and Lady just smiled mischievously at each other then at Reno. "Yeah, actually we do." The blonde said before she undid the clasp and then opened it.

Suddenly, the entire room was bathed in golden light, nearly blinding everyone looking at it. "All right, everyone. In you go now. We have some demons to hunt!" Lady barked. And surprisingly, every weapon in the small armory began to glow as they all began to move. Every one of them flew right into the box, as if they were alive. It just left the others in total surprise as they watched the weapons vanish inside the metallic brief case. None of them believed their own eyes.

"Whoa." Knife said in wonder as she tilted her head and moved closer to get a look inside the box. All she saw as bright white light inside it. "How...how is that possible?"

All four, Lady, Trish, Lucia and Zack just smiled and shook their heads as they watched as everyone began to crowd around Pandora's Box trying to see where the weapons went. "Pandora's Box, here, is a little difficult to understand and explain." Trish said as she gently rested her hand on the case before closing it when everyone gave up looking for the weapons. "Just imagine a white void of some kind inside a box. That's Pandora's Box. It's also one of Dante's favorite weapons."

The She-Devil Hunters laughed when everyone gave the blonde one a skeptical look about this box being a weapon. But Lady just shouldered her Kalina Anne and nodded to the outsiders. "All right. Lead the way to the blockhead, Dante." She said.

"Huh?" Reno wondered out loud when everyone gave them a confused look. "You mean, you're coming with us?" He asked, sounding just a little pleased.

Trish nodded as she locked the clasps again before picking up Pandora's Box. "Yeah. We're coming. Knowing Dante, he's probably gotten himself into serious trouble and needs help again. He might be very skilled with his skills and techniques and he's one helluva fighter, but he's also one of the biggest clutzs there are. He does not know how to stay out of trouble. Sometimes, he just jumps head first." she said rolling her eyes.

Rufus just chuckled before looking at Shelke. "Very well. Shelke, the portal, if you would." He requested pleasantly. Shelke only nodded as they went outside. She pressed a button on her arm computer before there was a crackling noise and a sidewards cyclon kicked up, surprising Trish and Lady. But with a smile, all of them stepped through.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**Time to Hunt Again  
Chapter 9**

It was near mid-afternoon by the time the demon bikes were speeding across the field towards the mountain ranges. Their riders held tight to the handlebars as they hit a few bumps but otherwise, it was a smooth ride. None of the men hardly said a word as they just rode across the terrain. It was only Dante, Nero, Vincent, Denzel, Cloud and Red XIII, whom they had gathered at Cosmos Canyon, asking for his held, who was going to Mt. Corel this time. They told Red about what had happened and about their problem, then they asked for his help to track down Sephiroth. Not one to pass up to helping, especially when it was Marlene who was in danger, the giant cat/dog agreed.

So now, he was running along the demon bikes, and keeping up very well.

They were quickly approaching Mt. Corel by the mid afternoon, almost dusk. The sun was still high in the air as they reached the mountains and started going up it. No one said a word as the demon bikes began to speed up the rocky paths of the ranges. However, as they went, Nero couldn't help but feel a little worry about the demon bikes. He was growing a little fond of Shiva and he didn't want it to get hurt while carrying him. After hearing that there was a living soul inside the bike, he felt as if it were a living thing.

"Hey! Shouldn't we stop and let the Demon Bikes rest a while?" Nero finally called as they went up the rocky paths.

Everyone just glanced at him before smiling and shaking their heads. Dante was grinning at the younger Half demon. He seemed to be thinking of something wisecracking to have a look like that on his face. "What, falling in love with a new girl, Kid? Don't worry! I won't tell Kyrie!" He called over to him. Nero glared at him as he held tight onto Shiva's handlebars. Cloud just shook his head as he pulled up a little closer to Nero, looking at him. "Nero! Don't worry too much about the demon bikes!" He yelled over the speeding winds blowing past them. "They run on a lot of power! It's almost impossible for them to run out! Especially Shiva, there! She actually can run the longest out of all of the demon bikes! She hardly ever heats up! Touch her engine if you don't believe me!"

Frowning, Nero looked down at the engine before reaching down with his left hand and tapping the roaring engine that had been going on for nearly five hours now without stopping. He only yanked back his hand with a sharp gasp, waving his hand. Dante looked sharply over his shoulder at him as he straightened. "What? Too hot?" He asked.

"No! She's cold! Freezing, ice cold!" Nero called to him before looking at Cloud with confusion.

Vincent just nodded as his long black hair whipped around his face. He glanced from Nero to Dante before looking forward again. "Exactly. Shiva fuels herself up on the chill in the air. She can absorb the very cool air or the moisture in the atmosphere, turning it into a chill for her to absorb." He said calmly. Dante just smirked as he listened to his tall, dark friend. He had to admit it. But that was pretty impressive for his standards. It was definitely something new and unique.

But before he could voice his opinion to everyone else, they arrived in Mt. Corel's little town. And none of them, not even the half demons were ready to see what was in store for them.

The small town that had been rebuilt in this place was all in shambles. The houses and tents where the miners had been living in were completely destroyed. The buildings were a wreck. And what was worst, the bodies of the miners were scattered all over the place. There was no doubt that every single one of them were dead. There was blood splattered all over there. By the looks of them, they had been dead for a while now. Maybe at least a few days. A battle had taken place here. No, not a battle. A massacre.

"Jeezus. Did Sephiroth do all of this?" Denzel asked breathlessly as he looked around in horror.

Dante just frowned as they rode past the dead bodies, his eyes looking over every single one as he passed them. He did not look happy at all to see what Sephiroth had done to all of those people. He even saw a few young men among the dead. But no one said a word as they slowly reached the mouth of a cave in the far back of the town. The mine's mouth, itself, was rather large but not safe for the demon bikes. That was for sure. The path leading into the cave looked really steep and had sharp rocks protruding from the ground.

Red XIII walked right up to the mouth of the mine, sniffing the air before turning back to the others. He gave them a nod as his eyes flickered back towards the mouth. "Sephiroth's scent leads in here. It leads inside the cavern. I can smell Marlene as well. But," He frowned as he looked at Cloud and Vincent. "There are two other scents here. One smells oddly like Elena of the Turks and the other...well, it's very unfamiliar. But it smells like vanilla and wild flowers."

Nero's eyes widened when he heard that. He sat up very straight while shooting Dante a look. "Kyrie! It must be Kyrie! She's here!" He said as he quickly climbed off of Shiva and started towards the cave.

But Dante caught the back of his jacket before he got too far. He just shook his head as he pulled the young Knight backwards, giving him a serious look. "Hold it, kid. Waltzing right in there like that is really stupid. It's more than likely there's a trap waiting inside for me." He told him. "And you look like me. If Sephiroth sees you, he might attack you. So it'd be best if all went in together."

The others nodded in agreement. They had to admit it but Dante was right. There could have been a trap waiting for them and if Sephiroth did see Nero, he could mistaken him as Dante. Vincent glanced at the other four before checking his Cerberus as he climbed off of his demon bike. "I suppose we are going in. So let's move it. I'll take the lead with Nanaki." His ruby eyes flickered over to Nero's arm, which had a light blue glow to it. "Nero, hide your arm. We don't want to bring any attention to ourselves." he told him. Nero only nodded as he pulled his sleeve over his demonic arm, hiding the blue glow. Then they started moving into the darkened gave.

The six traveled in silence into the darkened mine, looking around cautiously and listening for any signs of an attack. But nothing happened. It was like there were no demons in the mine. Though, neither Dante, Vincent or Nero were too sure. They could feel something in the air, but they weren't too sure what it was. There was something dangerous in the mine. They all could feel it. It must have been Sephiroth himself that was in there. But none of them were entirely sure. As they went, a few of the men noticed the look on Denzel's face. They all could tell he was taking this a whole lot harder than anyone else. He looked as if his world had just shattered into millions of pieces and he was scampering around, trying to collect them again to put back together.

"Denzel? What is it?" Cloud finally asked quietly as he glanced at the younger swordsman.

Denzel looked back at him but shook his head as he turned his eyes away again. "I...I should have done something to protect her, Cloud. I shouldn't have left her alone when...when I was talking to her last night. I...I could have prevented this." He muttered.

The others only glanced at one another before Dante shook his head, his eyes never looking over at the young fighter. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Denny. We'll get her back." He said calmly. After that, no one spoke for a while. But after a long time of wandering down a dark tunnel, they came to a chamber with three tunnels. All of them knew that they would have to split up to search the mine.

"All right. We'll go in pairs. Red, you come with me." Cloud said as he looked at the lion creature.

Dante nodded as he looked over at Vincent. "Vince, why don't you come with me. So that'll leave Denzel and Nero together. Why don't you guys try and get to know one another. You might learn something from each other." He said, smiling smugly. Everyone just nodded before they went their separate ways.

Both Nero and Denzel traveled side by side, looking around the darkened tunnels as they went. It seemed to only be getting darker as they walked so Nero uncovered his arm to use its light. With hs arm, he practically led the way. But after a long ten minutes of silent searching, he turned his head, looking at Denzel. "Hey, Denzel. Mind if I ask you something a little personal?" He asked. Denzel frowned as he looked at the Half Demon Knight but then nodded. "Sure. What is it?" He asked as he turned his eyes forward again.

"Well..." Nero paused as he kept his arm raised but then dropped it again. He was wondering exactly how he was going to approach this subject without the slightly younger man getting angry about it. But then with a shrug, he decided to jump right into it. "Why didn't you tell Marlene the truth last night? That you're in love with her?" He blurted out.

For a moment, it looked as if Denzel had snapped his neck by how fast his head turned to look at him with alarm. He just stared at Nero, almost demanding on how he knew about that with his eyes. The question had definitely stunned him into silence.

But after a long moment, he slowly shook his head. "What? How did...how did you know about..."

Nero looked away, as he knew what Denzel was trying to ask him. "You two weren't exactly quiet, Denzel. I'm sure someone other than myself had heard your little fight." He told him. "Either way, this is about you and Marlene. You should have told her that you loved her. Especially, when she said those words for you. Don't deny it either. I'm not the only one who sees the love in your eyes. I used to be the same way. I loved Kyrie since were were kids. But I couldn't tell her how I felt because…..well, look at me." He said, holding up his demonic arm. "I'm a half demon. Demons are feared and hated in my world. How could se ever love a creature like me? Yet, she did." He looked back at Denzel who looked thoughtfully at him. "I did all I could to protect her and I will. In the end, we're together. I love her so much. And she loves me. It's the same for you and Marlene. You should tell her how you feel."

Denzel looked away again, his eyes full of pain. "I...I can't, Nero. I just can't..." He was saying.

Sighing impatiently, Nero stopped and faced, his hands on his waist as he just looked directly at Denzel. He was starting to lose his patience with this kid. "And why not? If this is about Marlene loving Dant, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought. She loves him but it's more a brotherly love. It goes the same for that Vergil guy. Or Luke, if that's what he called himself. They have a platonic relationship. Besides, I would think Dante knows his limits. He knows he's too old for Marlene anyway." He shrugged. "Vergil, or Luke, only kissed Marlene that one time because you were pissing him off. He was helping her get you jealous of him so that you would finally say something to her." He told him.

Denzel just looked away, with only a hint of surprise on his face. He wasn't sure what to say to that. "But...I can't tell her though." he said quietly.

"Do you love her or not?" Nero asked, annoyed. There was a pause but Denzel nodded slowly. "Then what is the problem? Why is it you can't tell her that you love her?" He added.

Again, Denzel looked away, as if embarrassed. There was even a hint of a blush on his cheeks but he shook his head. "I...I wanted to...I wanted to ask Barret for his permission first. But...now I can't. He's gone and no one knows where he is. I can't have Marlene if I can't..." He cut himself off when he saw how annoyed Nero looked. "What?"

Nero just eyed him dully, his eyes narrowed at the young swordsman. He did not look amused at all. In fact, he wasn't. He could not believe this kid and on how dense he was. "Dude," He said dryly. "You're an idiot." Then he turned away from the bewildered Denzel to walk away.

Suddenly, the ground under their very feet began to rumble and vibrate before there was a loud crack and it gave away from under them. Both young men yelped as they went crashing along the rocky hole, hitting the sides as they fell and rolled until they were thrown from the tunnel onto the ground. Denzel and Nero both just laid there for a minute, groaning in pain from the aches and bruises they swore they had gotten from hitting the rocky walls of that giveaway.

"Ow..." Denzel muttered as he pushed himself to his knees. He glanced over at Nero, seeing that he was wincing as he held his other arm with his demonic one. "Nero, are you okay?"

Nero just shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet, looking around the chamber they had just fallen into. The chamber was huge with a high ceiling and it was well lit with torches and strings of electric lights all around the room and a large stone tablet in the middle of the room. And before the stone tablet were three bodies. Three bodies of women where were still breathing. And these three women had made both Nero and Denzel tense.

Marlene, Kyrie and an older blonde that Denzel recognized as Elena of the Turks.

Marlene was still wearing the outfit she had been wearing the day before. The only difference about her was she did look a little roughed up. But there didn't seem to be much harm to her. Elena of the Turks was wearing black slacks and a white blouse, which both were a little torn. She, like Marlene, was roughed up. There were a few smudges of dirt and ash on her face, as well a nasty looking bruise on the side but she looked all right. Her golden blonde hair was still cut short, just like how she always had it. The last, Kyrie, was a gorgeous young woman. She was around both Nero and Denzel's ages, maybe a little younger by a few years. Her ginger colored hair was pulled into a ponytail but there were strands loose from it. She had a bruise above her eye, so someone had hit her but she looked all right. She was wearing black pants and a creme-white blouse with a white jacket over it. The necklace that Nero gave her was resting right under her chin.

Both young men quickly stood up straight and rushed forward to see if the three women were okay, their hearts racing when they saw their beloved girls. "Kyrie!" Nero cried out as soon as his eyes fell onto the lovely ginger haired woman lying next to Marlene. All three were out cold, but very alive.

Before they could get too close to the girls, there was a flash of light and a light blue, but transparent barrier cut them off from the women. Nero just began banging on the barrier while looked frantically at Kyrie. Denzel placed his hands against the barrier, trying to push past it. "Marlene! Marlene! Wake up!" He called to her. Nero was just too busy banging against the barrier, trying to get past it. He was getting frustrated because he couldn't break it. It was then Denzel touched his shoulder and pointed at the large tablet. "What is that?"

"..." Nero paused, looking impatiently at the tablet before pulling away from Denzel and started pacing in front of the barrier. "It looks like a Hell Gate. What it's doing here, I don't have a clue. But I don't care right now. I just want Kyrie back now." He grumbled.

Denzel nodded in agreement as he began to pace with Nero, trying to find a way to get past the barrier. His eyes kept on flickering over to Marlene, almost begging her to wake up. "Marlene, wake up. Please, just open your eyes." He begged.

No response.

Instead, another did. He had been hiding behind the tablet when he first heard the crashing bodies from falling through a coal shaft. He stayed behind it while listening to the two bang against the barrier but didn't reveal himself until now. He figured it was the best time.

But the minute Nero saw him, the half demon tensed, his eyes growing widening in shock and alarm. He already yanked out his gun and pointed it at the hunched over man, who was scribbling at his clipboard. His eyes never looked over at the two young warriors as he just paced back and fourth near the three women. "YOU!!" Nero yelled in rage. Denzel frowned as his hand show over his head and wrapped around the handle of his buster sword. He wasn't sure who this man was but it was obviously someone that Nero really didn't like.

Agnus didn't look up as he just kept on scribbling at his clipboard, still facing the two swordsmen. He never turned his back on them at all. Though, there was something strange about him that the two noticed. Or at least Nero did. The demon loving scientist was standing up straighter than he usually did, as if he couldn't bend over too far. And there was a sound coming from him. Two sets of breathing was what it sounded like. But finally, Agnus lift his head up a little, his eyes flickering over the rims of his glasses. "I knew you were g-going to show up s-s-sooner or later. It was only a mat-matter of t-t-time." He stuttered over his words before looking back at his clipboard. "It was j-just as I had pre-predicted."

"Who the hell is this Stuttering Stanley?" Denzel asked, already a little agitated just by him.

Nero smirked coldly when a wave of annoyance passed over Agnus' eyes. He tilted his head towards Denzel but never looked away from the wicked scientist. "A demon wanna be." He then stopped smirking and tightened his hold on his gun. "I swear, if you've hurt Kyrie, I will kill you!" He growled.

Agnus just scowled at him for what he called him but then his scowl melted into a cruel smile as he looked down at the lovely red haired girl. After a brief second, he took a step towards her. "Oh? You mean her? Oh, I'm afraid th-that more harm is g-go-going to co-co-come to her than you realize. I think she'll make a very lovely demon, don't you th-think, Nero?" He asked coolly as he gently nudged Kyrie's head with his foot. Angrily, Nero slammed his demonic fist against the barrier, trying to break past it. He made a very inhuman growl, while his arm began to glow hot blue.

"Didn't I shoot you in the head the last time we saw each other?" came Dante's dry remark.

To even hear that voice made Agnus jump back away from Kyrie, his eyes wide with shock and fear. He was obviously not excited to see the Demon Hunter, himself. Both Nero and Denzel turned around with a jerk, their selves to see Dante, Cloud, Vincent and Red XIII walk into the chamber, all looking very darkly at the crouched over man. Dante was smirking coldly as he eyed the scientist though. He was amused to see him again. Agnus wasn't. "Da-Dan-Dante!!" He yelped in alarm. "You...yo-you have co-come sooner than I ex-expected!"

Dante just shrugged, his arms held out to his sides as he just walked forward until he came up to the barrier with the others. "What, did you really think that a bunch of those sword demons were going to slow me down, Angus breah? Ha! Then you don't know me very well. I am Dante, the Son of Sparda. I'm a hard ass." He remarked. That just made the others smirk and shake their heads while Agnus backed away a little. "So, what are you doing here and how the hell are you still alive? Not to mention, what the hell are you doing with the girls?" Dante asked pointing towards Marlene, Kyrie and Elena.

Agnus almost just ignored him as he began frantically scribbling at his clipboard while pacing more quickly. He still didn't turn his back on them, as if he was afraid too. Even though the barrier was keeping them from coming closer. "I...I have been giving an-another chance, Dan-Dante! No thanks t-t-to you!" He muttered savagely. " I have be-been resurrected t-t-to continue my research on the demons."

"By who?!" Nero demanded.

But he was ignored by Agnus as he kept scribbling on his clipboard. He kept glancing nervously at the group of warriors but flinched every time he looked at Dante. "I was given a cha-chance to continue my study of the marvelous beings of de-demons, to learn more of their qual-qualities. I have learned more and more while in the fiery pits of Hell. It is amazing what a Hell Gate can d-d-do with the very life so-source of this Pl-Planet." He said motioning towards the side, where there was a puddle of glowing liquid.

Alarmed, Cloud moved closer, looking wide eyed at the liquid. "Mako?! What the?!" He looked sharply at the obviously insane scientist. "You're mixing Mako energy with the demons?!"

Excitedly, Agnus moved towards him, pointing his finger at him. His eyes had grown very bright with excitement and he nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, yes!! I have dis-discovered that the demons grow stronger when they drink this beautiful subs-substance! It is truly magnificent." He sounded like he was in love. This just made the group of fighters just give him a look of disgust and disbelief.

"Jeezus." growled Vincent as he eyed Agnus with distaste. "He sounds just like Hojo."

Agnust didn't seem to amused but he slowly nodded as he turned his eyes onto the tall, dark Ex-Turk. He tilted his head a little as if to look over his shoulder at something but then folded his arms behind his back. "Ah. Yes. Him. I suppose you would mean P-Pr-Professor Hojo of Sh-Shinra. A fine scientist, yet unorthodoxed. St-still, he has an ingenius pl-plan."

That made everyone freeze as they stared at him. They looked surprised to hear that but none of them believed a word he said. Slowly Cloud shook his head. "Any plan of Hojo's is a sick plan. Besides, what does this have to do with him? He's dead. And how do you know about him, anyway?" He asked darkly. Agnus just grinned at him before he reached over his chest and tapped his shoulder. "Why not ask him yourself?" He asked before he turned around.If they had been surprised before when they saw Agnus and had listened to him talk about demons drinking Mako energy to become stronger, they were extremely stunned when they saw what exactly this stuttering scientist was talking about.

No horror, not even Sephiroth himself, could have prepared the A-Team or the Demon Hunters for what, or who, was on Agnus' back. It was no wonder why he was standing up straight and wouldn't turn his back onto the group. For on the back of his head and practically the other half of him was Professor Hojo himself. His face was almost right on Agnus' head. It was like Hojo and Agnus was sharing the very same body. And it seemed that case because after Agnus had turned around, the scientist's shoulders began to rotate and crack sickeningly as they turned right around so that, though the back of his hands were facing inward now. Hojo just smirked when he saw the horrified reaction on everyone's faces.

"Surprised?" Hojo asked in a sneer.

It seemed that way because no one could say anything. But then Dante pulled a face, looking very disgusted as he shuddered and folded his arms. "Hell no! Disgusted is more like it! Now, don't get me wrong, cracking your shoulders feels good but turning them around completely, that's just ew." He groaned, shuddering again. That remark just made everyone smirk as they came out of their horrified state and spared him a glance. Vincent, however, glared hatefully at the wicked scientist. "Hojo." He growled.

Hojo looked right at him before sneering. "Valentine. I suppose you never thought you'd see me again. This must be a shock and a disappointment for you." He said with a hiss.

Vincent eyed him darkly but dipped his head once, in agreement. "The thought did cross my mind." He muttered bitterly. Cloud just frowned as he moved a little closer to the barrier, looking Hojo over. He, like everyone else, was a little disgusted but more shocked by Hojo's current state. "Hojo, how did this happen? How are...how are you on the back of someone like that?" He asked, dryly.

"Well, that's a curious question, Failed Experiement." Hojo said folding his twistened hands behind his back and Agnus' front. He ignored the dark look he got for that title from both Cloud and Vincent. Instead, he began to pace in front of the barrier. "The only reasonable answer I suppose I can give to you is that I have become a demon. I have offered my ingenius plans to someone very powerful who pulled me out of the Hell that Valentine had sent me after the fight seven years ago, just before he defeated Weiss." He shook his, and Agnus' head as he eyed Vincent dryly. "That powerful someone placed me into this pathetic body. Believe me, it's not easy working with this man but he does have his uses."

"D-do remember that this is my bo-body that you're inhabiting!" Agnus remarked, sounding insulted. "If you do-don't like it, leave it!"

Dante rolled his eyes as he glanced over at the others, who looked just as annoyed with these two. It sounded like they didn't get along very well. "Yeah, yeah. So who is this powerful someone? I'm so dying to shoot him in the head, like I'm going to do to the both of you grumpy old men." Nero said acidly. Denzel and Cloud snickered with him. The Demon Hunter smirked but didn't say anything while Vincent and Red XIII just glared hatefully at Hojo.

"That would be me." came the dark reply of the voice they all knew so well.

All eyes shot towards the one who just barely materialized near the Hell Gate. They weren't too surprised to see that it was Sephiroth. They all had been expecting him to show up sooner or later. But it was the fact that his one black wing was spread out behind him, along with a white wing. So he was obviously not the One Winged Angel anymore. This was definitely a new development of Sephiroth. But there was one other difference about him. His eyes were no longer glowing green, but fiery red. It was something that sent a chill down all of the fighters' backs. This didn't look good at all.

"Dante," Sephiroth said with an icy smile as he moved forward. "Are you ready to die now? No more running away?"

Dante's arms dropped as the humor on his face immediately was gone. He looked rather dangerous now as he eyed Sephiroth darkly. There was something oddly familiar about those eyes. Something he seemed to have forgotten about but was straining to remember. Beside him, all of the A-Team yanked out their weapons and pointed at the silver haired tyrant with black streaks here and there. "Sephiroth!" Cloud growled.

Sephiroth ignored them though. His eyes were only on Dante.

The white haired Demon Hunter just glared right back at him before his firm frown curved upward into an icy smile as he placed his hands onto his waist, near his guns. "There are two things that you did that you should have not done, Sephiroth. Want to know what they are?" He asked coolly. He recieved only a nod from the tyrant. "Okay. One, you hurt my girl, Lucia. Very bad move. No one EVER hurts Lucia without getting away with it. If it's not me who's going to kill you, it'll be my other two girls, Lady and Trish. They'll be pissed when they hear about this. Two, you kidnapped Marlene. Not a good mix at all. That is something that will definitely get you shot."

Sephiroth just chuckled darkly as he moved closer, standing over the three women. "I suppose so. Would you like me to add a third thing that I shouldn't do but will do anyway?" He asked with dark amusement.

The smirk on Dante's face faded immediately and everyone tensed. They didn't like the sound of that. "Sephiroth, whatever it is, it better not deal with the girls." Dante said warningly. However, Sephiroth just continued to smirk cruely as he placed his hand onto the handle of his Masamune. He didn't pull it though. Instead, he turned his head away, looking towards the Hell Gate. "I suppose you're wondering on what I am planning, are you not? Do you want to hear it?" He asked, coolly.

No one said anything but each one of them nodded anyway.

"Very well. I suppose you might have guessed on what I started out with. I am planning to unleash Hell into this world, just like what I'm doing with your world, Dante." Sephiroth said looking back at the Demon Hunter. He then held up three fingers. "There are three Hell Gates currently on the Planet, which are not active just yet. There are only a few minor gates that open now and then to let demons come through, but these Gates, they will allow larger and more powerful demons through into the Planet. To open these three gates, it requires a sacrifice. Innocent blood must be spilt." He smirked very coldly when he saw the fighters' eyes widen with realization. "Yes. My sacrifices will be these three ladies. I only asked you to be here so that you could watch me spill the blood of these innocent women."

"Sephiroth! Don't you friggen dare!" Cloud snarled as he gripped his sword tighter.

Nero lunged at the barrier, banging hard against it again, but it still held strong. "If you hurt Kyrie, I swear to god that I'll kill you!!" He snarled. Dante just yanked out his guns and gave Sephiroth a very dark look.

But Sephiroth just smirked coldly as he rose a hand above the women. "That sounds like a challenge. Unfortunately, I don't have time to fight a little weak whelp like you. I have bigger fish to fry. Dante, you challenged me first. But I'm afraid our fight will have to wait. I have other things to attend to. So lets get this over with." He then began to glow. He wasn't the only one who started glowing. Marlene, Kyrie and Elena also began to glow before rising off the ground. This just made both Nero and Denzel a little more frantic. "Hojo, Agnus, is the Hell Gates ready?" Sephiroth added without looking away from Dante.

"Yes, Sephiroth." Both scientists said at the same time.

Smirking, Sephiroth nodded as he rose his hand higher, stepping off to the side as the three women moved past him a little. He grinned evilly when all of the A-Team members began attacking the barrier, yelling out in rage and fear. Nero was one of them. But Dante remained very calm and dangerous look. He was shaking his head as if telling Sephiroth not to do it, but knew that it was no use. "Well, let's give you a third reason to hate me even more now, shall we?" Sephiroth asked before he threw his hand out towards the Hell Gate. Marlene was the only one to move, though. Her body just shot towards the Hell Gate before slamming into it, just as Sephiroth thrust his sword right after her.

"NO!!" Denzel roared.

But it was too late. The Masamune sliced right into Marlene's hand, stabbing into the Hell Gate behind her. When it did, Marlene's eyes shot open and she screamed in pain as she just dangled there in the air, against the stone tablet. Her blood began to spill from the wound, running down the stone and metal as she screamed in pain. "Son of a...!!" She screamed but couldn't finish what she was cursing as tears sprang from her eyes.

"Sephiroth! I'm going to kill you!" Denzel yelled as he began to slice at the barrier now with his buster sword. Nero had joined him, seriously angry for what the tyrant had done to Marlene but more afraid on what he was going to do to Kyrie. He was bent onto destroying the silver haired monster before he could cause any harm to his lover. However, as soon as Marlene started screaming, Kyrie and Elena both jerked awake and looked around frantically. When the red haired beauty spotted Nero still pounding on the barrier, she gasped. "Ner-Nero!" She cried. Nero stopped to just look right into her eyes, surprised to see her awake but relieved. "Kyrie!"

"Very wrong move, Sephiroth." Dante said darkly as he just remained calm, his arms folded across his chest.

Sephiroth just chuckled as he yanked his Masamune right out of Marlene's hand before turning away, just as she fell to the ground at the Hell Gate's base. She landed hard on the ground, collapsing to her knees but she didn't get up. Instead she hugged her injured hand to her body with painful tears running down her face. The blood on the tablet however touched the strange symbols, which began to glow brightly. "We shall see each other again soon, Dante. But until then, watch as your precious Marlene Wallace is ripped to shreds." The silver haired tyrant said before he vanished into smoke. Black smoke also began to swirl around Kyrie, Elena and the two headed scientist.

"Kyrie!!" Nero yelled as he banged hard onto the barrier. "I swear it! I will find you before he hurts you! I will save you!!"

Kyrie looked rather frightened but she slowly nodded with a loving smile on her face as she looked right into Nero's eyes. She was soon consumed by the black smoke, vanishing right from everyone's view. However, Elena seemed to be trying to fight her way out. She just looked directly at Cloud, her eyes wide. "Cloud! Cloud! DON'T KILL TSENG!!" She begged as she fought the smoke. She was trying to pull her way out of the smoke. "Please, DON'T KILL TSENG!" But before she could get too far, she was yanked right through the smoke and she was gone with everyone else.

"What in the hell? What did Elena mean by that?!" Cloud asked frowning as he stepped back away from the barrier.

Dante just shook his head as he looked directly at the Hell Gate, his arms still folded over his chest. He was confused too, but he was more concerned on what was going on the other side of the barrier, not with with what Elena said. He was more worried about what was coming out of the Hell Gate.

Marlene winced as she slowly got to her feet as she hugged her injured hand to her but then she stopped when four large clawed feet slammed down before her. Blinking, she slowly looked up at the demon before her, only to freeze. It was some kind of demon with the looks of a six headed vulture. Even more bizarre, it had three monkey like tails waving back and forth behind it. All eyes were on her, looking very hungry. "Oh……shi--!" Marlene gasped before jumping up and backing away. The demon's heads just screeched before lunging towards her.

"Marlene! Run!!" Denzel yelled as he attacked the barrier viciously. Marlene tried just that. She turned and bolted away from the giant bird demon, which screeched and gave chase. With Denzel, the others, minus Dante, began to attack the Barrier, trying to break through. Dante just stood there with a frown, studying the barrier. He knew there had to be a weak point somewhere. But where was it? He had to find it before the demon caught up to Marlene.

"Argh!" Marlene screamed.

Too late!

Dante gritted his teeth as his eyes flickered over to see that one of the heads had tried to bite Marlene, only scratching her shoulder. She was slowing down a little but she tried to pushing herself faster, moving away from the demon. Dante just turned his eyes back onto the barrier, trying to find the weak point again. He had to find it. And then, his eyes caught sight of two glowing orbs embedded in the mine walls. "There!" He shouted before yanking out his guns and firing at the orbs.

There just had to be an obstacle, didn't there?

The orbs were also being blocked by the barrier. So obviously there was no way to destroying them. Swearing, Dante pointed at the orbs. "Hey! Attack the walls! We have to try and get those orbs!" He yelled at the others. The A-Team just looked over at him before they began their attacks on the orbs. Denzel was still banging away at the barrier, while watching painfully as Marlene tried to run away from the demon. He was swearing under his breath as he watched helpless from the other side of the barrier.

However, Marlene was running out of room. She was nearly cornered now before the demon remembered it had tails. Two of the tails swung around it before slamming into the walls, blocking Marlene's escaped. The young girl flinched with a soft scream before looking up at the demon with fear. The six heads all seemed to grin before lunging forward. Marlene shrieked before covering her head, not caring if she got blood in her black hair.

"Marlene!" Both Denzel and Nero yelled as they swung their blades savagely at the barrier. Even Dante cursed loudly as he looked over. But then he froze.

Suddenly there was a flash of blue and silver before a blade sliced right through three of the demon's heads fell around Marlene in bloody heap. The demon screeched in pain while jumping away from Marlene and her rescuer. The sudden rescue made everything stop though. The A-Team and the two Half Demons froze when they saw who was standing in front of Marlene, his sword raised and his eyes very cold.

"Vergil." Dante muttered in bewilderment.

Vergil just eyed the demon coldly as he stood straighter before glancing over his shoulder at Marlene as she looked up at him in shock. "Don't tell me you're about to give up already. I thought you were tougher than that." He said quietly.

"Vergil!" Marlene gasped as she stood up straight. "Wh-what are you doing here?!"

Dante nodded as he eyed his twin brother coolly, his arms folding over his chest. "That's what I'd like to know. And you talk as if you know him, Marlene. The real him." He said dryly.

Vergil, nor Marlene, spared him a glance but looked right at the demon before them. The icy tempered half demon just dipped his head a little lower. "Dante, instead of asking stupid questions, shouldn't you be concentrating on breaking those barrier orbs?" He asked, getting a very cold look for his remark. But with a shrug, Vergil turned around and looked directly at Nero. "Well, if you won't, I will." He then stretched out his hand towards the younger Half Demon. "Yamato, come to your master."

Stunned, Nero stepped back while Dante quickly moved forward but before any one of them could do anything, the young Knight's demonic arm began to glow as Yamato appeared above it. The only thing he could do was yelp as the sword sped away from him, slicing right through the barrier, leaving a small hole before entering Vergil's hand. "Hey! That's mine!" Nero yelled.

"No. It belongs to me. I will allow you to keep your demonic ghost form but Yamato is mine." Vergil said coolly before he pulled the sheath right off the katana then sliced the air towards the barrier orbs. There was a minor explosion as the orbs were sliced in two and the barrier fell. "Now, for this demon who has hurt Marlene." Vergil said before he glanced at Marlene. "Marlene, are you up to fighting this demon?"

Marlene was still somewhat surprised but then she nodded as she stood up straighter. Her eyes made a quick look around before she spotted her guns lying near a large coal boulder. Without a word, she hurried over to them and snatched them up before turning back around. "All right! Let's kick some demon ass!" She said boldly.

Everyone just nodded as they rushed forward. Dante merely glanced at his twin before pulling out his Rebellion. "Vergil, after we beat this demon, I'm going to kick your ass. So don't go anywhere." He said before they all moved forward and began to attack the demon. All four, the Half Demons, Cloud and Denzel slashed at the demon with their swords, slicing and dicing while Vincent and Marlene was blasting away at the demon with their guns. The fight was rather long and tiring though. It was then the demon decided to try and fly away. It took to the air, only to hit the chamber's ceiling and make several debries starting to fall.

Both Nero and Denzel jumped away from each other before a huge slab of stone landed on them. "Jeezus! This thing is getting out of control! How are we gonna kill this thing?!" Denzel yelled as he tried to avoid another boulder landing on his head.

"Like this, foo'!" roared a very familiar gruff voice before someone jumped very high into the air above the large flying demon and a rain of sharp bullets began to slam into the bird demon, ripping it to shreds.

The voice, however, caught everyone's attention, making them all stop. Especially Marlene. She looked as if someone had knocked the air right out of her lungs as her eyes widened. She slowly straightened as her head tilted upwards and she saw him. The large black man with a glowing red gunarm as it was blasting the demon into pieces. "…..P……Pa….Papa!!" She gasped.

It was Barret Wallace!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

**A/N: Hey, everyone. Sorry for the very late update. Writer's block is such a bitch. Plust my internet has been down. Anyway, sorry for keeping you waiting. You're also in for a shock. You're about to find out about the real Sephiroth. **

* * *

**Time to Hunt Again**

**Chapter 10**

Everyone stared at Barret as he continued to hover in the air while blasting the demon to pieces before he fell to the ground, landing heavily onto his feet with a loud thud. Behind him the demonic bird hit the ground, groaning and squeaking in pain as it lay in its own puddle of blood. It twitched now and then but didn't get back up. But no one really paid much attention to it right now. All eyes were on Barret as he stood up and grinned at everyone. Since he had vanished a year ago, he did look a little different. His clothes were rather dirty and ragged. And his hair had grown a little longer. But otherwise, he looked alive and well. It was like he had been stuck in the mines for a long time.

"Barret, where in the hell have you been?!" Cloud asked now grinning as soon as they registered that it really was him.

Barret snorted as his gun arm clicked as it resolved its hand form. He just shook his head as he looked directly at the blonde swordsman. "What do you think, Spiky? I've been to Hell and back!" He then jerked around when the demon finally seemed to find that it still had a little strength left to fight some more because it pushed itself up and screeched at them angrily. "Aww, damn. I thought that I had killed it this time." The large black man grumbled.

Dante just shook his head as he shouldered his Rebellion and looked up at the demon now taking to the air. "Demons like this one aren't easy to take out. It's got a whole lot more fight in it than we think." He remarked. Vergil nodded as he held Yamato tightly in his hand, looking coolly up at the demon. His head tilted towards Denzel, who was looking at the demon with determination. "I think its time this weak abomination dies." He said quietly.

Denzel glanced back at him before nodding as he tightened his hold on his buster sword. "I'll take care of this." He said dryly before he bolted forward, scraping his sword across the ground right behind him.

Everyone else just watched him go. The only one who looked a little worried as Marlene. She looked tempted of running after him, though she kept glancing at her father, wondering if he was really there or not. However, her eyes tore away from her father as soon as she saw that Denzel was now starting to glow. She realized he was about to do a limit break! Curiously, she tilted her head to watch.

Denzel rushed towards the demon his bustersword glowing a bright blue as his eyes narrowed dangerously on the demon, flying above everyone's heads. He came to a sudden stop, sliding a little on the ground before jumping high into the air, his Bustersword swinging. He flew towards the demon, which seemed to accept his challenge by charging right back at him. The brown haired swordsmen just smirked to himself as he gripped his Bustersword tighter before swinging it at the demon. The blade hit the demon first in the beak then he lashed out a foot, kicking off it and sailing towards the mine walls. The demon screeched angrily but tried to follow. It didn't need to go very far for Denzel flipped around, lashing out his feet towards the mine walls. He practically landed vertically on the wall before kicking off it and sailing straight back at the demon, his bustersword glowing a hot blue.

"Climhazzard!" He yelled before running along the demon's back letting his Bustersword slash right through it.

Once he reached the tail feathers, he kicked off of the demon, spinning quickly in the air before throwing out a hand. "Ultima!" He yelled, throwing the spell he had prepared. The spell sped towards the demon before hitting it. There was a large explosion and the demon burst into red light smoke vanishing from sight. Denzel dropped down to the ground, landing in a crouch before standing up and swinging the Bustersword right over his shoulder, clipping it back to its sheath. He grinned as he looked over at the others. "Now that's how you kill a demon."

Cloud just grinned right back and gave him a nod of approval while the others just cheered silent. Dante was the only one who decided to applaud him before glancing over at Vergil as he went over and leaned against the rocky walls. Apparently, he was waiting to see if Dante was actually going to carry out his threat. Meanwhile, everyone else looked at Barret who just gave Denzel a thumbs up before looking at Marlene just as she jumped towards him, throwing her arms around him.

"Papa!!" Marlene cried out as she clutched onto him.

Barret just wrapped his strong arms around Marlene, looking down at her. He was smiling but it was somewhat surprised. "Marlene!" He murmured brightly before noticing that she was shaking. He frowned and tilted his head to the side. "Huh? What, did you think I was dead?" He asked, looking down at her. Marlene just buried her face into his shoulder, not caring if he smelled a little. She was just happy to see him again. She had thought he was dead. How could she not react like this?

"You've been gone for a year, Barret. It couldn't be helped." Cloud said smiling as he stepped closer to his big friend. "We all thought you were dead."

Red XIII just sat down on his haunches, his tail wagging a little as he grinned up at Barret. "Where have you been all this time? We've all been so worried about you." He said softly.

Barret, still holding onto his crying daughter, just made a face as he looked at the large cat/dog creature. He shook his head now his eyes flickering all around the area at all of his friends. He didn't seem to notice Nero just yet. His eyes had paused on Vergil as he looked coolly right back but he didn't say anything. He actually didn't look surprised to the cool tempered half demon. "Wha' did I just tell ya, Red? I just told you that I was in Hell. I've been stuck on the other side of that damn gate over there for an entire year. Believe me, I am not lookin' forward to going back there!" He said gruffly.

All of the A-Team looked at him with surprise. They really hadn't thought that he was actually serious about being in Hell. Even Marlene pulled away and looked wide-eyed up at her father. She was just as stunned as everyone else. The Half demons just frowned as they looked right at Barret, minus Vergil that is. He just eyed Barret coolly before looking away again, his eyes closing as if he was trying to think.

"You...you were actually in Hell?" Cloud asked in disbelief.

Barret just nodded as he rest his powerful arm on Marlene's shoulder. "Yep. A year ago, when I had been talking to you about what was going on in this, here, mine, that thing opened up and that birdbrain demon that Denzel just killed started to attack everyone. I didn' have much a choice but to charge it and shove it back through the gate. It closed after me though and didn' open until now." He explained. He then threw a thumb towards Vergil. "Only a few weeks ago, I saw him. He said he was lookin' for me anyway. Told me to just wait by that Hell Gate until it opened up again. Said it was gonna be soon. I didn' argue with him. Just did what he told me to do. And when it opened up, well, you know the rest."

Everyone looked back at Vergil, just as his eyes reopened the minute they looked at him. Dante just folded his arms, staring at his twin brother. He was trying to think on this. He couldn't believe that his twin had actually helped someone. Unless he was doing it for himself. Marlene, on the other hand, just pulled away from Barret, looking dumbstruck as she moved towards Vergil. "Vergil! You knew where my father was all this time and you didn't tell me?!" She exclaimed.

Vergil just glanced at her before looking away. "You didn't ask." he answered simply.

"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO ASK, VERGIL!" screeched Marlene. She then pouted and folded her arms, turning her back onto Vergil. "I thought we were friends, Vergil. But you seriously shouldn't have kept this from me. You should have told me that you knew where Papa was."

Everyone just looked in between Marlene and Vergil again. Denzel was looking somewhat jealous again, glaring at Vergil. He agreed with Marlene that Vergil shouldn't have kept Barret's survival away from them all. But he was more sour at the thought that Marlene was talking so casually with the half demon that he didn't like at all. Dante just frowned, somewhat curious. His eyes narrowed a little as he glanced between Marlene and Vergil before shaking his head. "Wow. This is amazing." He found himself say out loud, catching everyone's attention. "If I didn't know better, Marlene, I'd say you knew who your Luke Caine was all this time." He said dryly.

Barret now looked somewhat bewildered as he looked right at Vergil. "Huh?! That's Luke?! But I thought he was a blonde, not some white head!" He said staring at Vergil.

Marlene, however, looked away as had Vergil. They either looked annoyed or guilty about hiding the fact that they knew each other, or at least being questioned about it. After a minute, Marlene nodded slowly as she turned towards Dante, giving him a sorry look. "Yeah. I've known who Vergil was all along." She paused giving Vergil a look. "Actually, he never mentioned that he was your brother. Which you should also should have told me about, Vergil! Especially when I DID ask. I asked you if you were related to Dante! You said that you weren't."

"Obviously," Vergil said, now smirking towards her. "I lied. But that's because I didn't want you to know." His cool blue eyes flickered over to his annoyed younger twin before flickering over to Barret. "In any case, Barret is back. Shouldn't you be celebrating his return?"

Marlene just pouted as she folded her arms before turning her face away and her eyes closed, looking much like a girl who was just told that she couldn't have something she wanted. "You're a meanie, Vergil! You know that! Now I'm really mad at you!" She told him, scowling. She even started to walk away.

"Has he said anything yet?" Vergil interrupted, taking everyone by surprise. They all looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. Even Marlene looked at him with confusion. Vergil just shook his head as he looked pointing at Denzel. Now, most of everyone understood what he meant. Though Barret looked the most confused out of everyone. Marlene just looked away, her face passive now as she shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Vergil. Just drop it." she told him.

Vergil just frowned as did Nero as they looked directly at a frowning Denzel. Neither one agreed with Marlene at all with this one. "Well then. I guess I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands then." The cold half demon said before he turned sharply around, becoming a flash of blue.

WHAM!

Denzel hit the ground as soon as Vergil's fist had hit the side of his face. Everyone else just stiffened in alarm and Marlene gasped as she whirled around, looking wide eyed at him. "Vergil! What in the heck are you doing?!" She exclaimed as she rushed forward to stop Vergil from doing anything else. But she stopped when Vergil held up a hand towards her. "Vergil!"

"Denzel, when are you finally going to say anything to Marlene? Are you seriously going to just stand by and watch someone else sweep her off her feet when you had the chance to tell her your true feelings?" Vergil asked darkly. Everyone froze as they stared at him in bewilderment. All three Dante, Vincent and Nero just folded their arms. They hadn't joined everyone to moving forward to defend Denzel. But as soon as the words were out of Vergil's mouth, everyone just froze.

"Wh-what?" Denzel asked flabbergasted.

Vergil just shook his head before he lashed down and grabbed the front of Denzel's shirt and yanked him to his feet, now shoving him towards a startled Marlene. "Be serious, Denzel and just tell the girl that you're in love with her already, you idiot." He said coldly.

There was a long silence as Denzel just stared wide-eyed at an equally wide-eyed Marlene. Both of them turned to look at Vergil again, who just lift his head up higher and gave the young man a very dark look as if saying, _**"Say it or you're dead!"**_

Swallowing hard, Denzel turned back to Marlene, who still looked startled but was looking right into his eyes. She was waiting for what he had to say. He paused again before looking towards Barret, who looked very puzzled but something was dawning on him. Especially when the young swordsman looked at him nervously. Denzel had gone a few shades paler than before and was looking a little shaky there. "Uh..." Denzel began as he took a step towards the large black man. "Um, Mr. Wallace, sir. I would like to ask for your permission..."

Barret now frowned, his arms folding over his chest and he gave Denzel a very dry look as if he wasn't amused with the situation at all. He just shook his head in disbelief. "Denzel, I'm not entirely sure what's been going on lately 'cause of how long I've been gone, but I ain't the one you're suppose to be talkin' to. Now if you've been in love with Marlene all this time and haven' said a damn word to her 'bout it, I'm gonna kick your ass." He growled at the young man.

Again, Denzel went a little pale as he swallowed hard and looked at Marlene, who now folded her arms, looking rather impatient. Seeing that look on her face, the young swordsman's mouth curved upward. Marlene was definitely her father's daughter. "Marlene….." He paused again to glance over at everyone else. As if all of the A-Team read his mind, they turned their backs to them to give the pair their privacy. But the three half demons just eyed him seriously, though all three of them had a hint of a smirk on their faces. They seemed to find this very amusing. And it was making Denzel more uncomfortable.

Annoyed, Marlene shot Dante, Vergil and Nero a dark look as she lashed out a hand towards Denzel, grabbing the front of his shirt. "You know, you three are such assholes." She remarked before she pulled her best friend into a very fiery kiss. Denzel looked like he had been stunned stupid for a few seconds before he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her very close to him and returned the kiss.

Dante grinned before giving a wolf whistle, knowing that it was going to make Denzel blush. It worked. The young swordsman pulled away from Marlene and gave him a dark look before she yanked him back into another kiss. Chuckling, the Demon Hunter turned back to his twin brother. "All right, Vergil. Now it's your turn to explain. What are you doing here, how do you know Marlene and why in the hell are you still here and not running away?" He asked, seriously. Now all eyes were on the pair of Half Demon twins.

Vergil just lazily looked at his younger twin before dipping his head downward, his eyes only on Dante. "All right, Dante. If you truly wish to know my objective," He paused for an effect. "I am after the great sword of the warrior, Sephiroth, Masamune."

Everyone froze when they heard that. All of the A-Team was stunned by the Half Demon's words. Dante just frowned as he stared at Vergil and both, Marlene and Nero didn't look surprised. He had heard this already from the girl. So he knew what Vergil had been after from the beginning. Question was, why?

"Masamune?" Cloud asked, seriously. "Why do you want Sephiroth's sword?"

Vergil merely glanced over at him before looking back Dante. He just shook his head as he held up Yamato with one hand. "As much as this is one of the most powerful swords, it can not defeat my enemy that I wish to destroy. I need the Masamune to kill the one who has done me wrong." He announced.

Seeing Yamato, Nero frowned and moved forward as if to grab it from Vergil. He wanted it back. It was his, something that Dante gave him to take care of. It was something he needed to rescue Kyrie. And he wasn't going to let this half demon villain take it from him. However, before he could even get close to snatching it away from Vergil, Dante grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him back away from his twin. "Uh-uh. I wouldn't be doing that, kid. Unless you want your hand cut off, don't be so grabby."

"Wha' the hell?!" Barret exclaimed, finally noticing Nero. "There's three of 'em whiteheads now?"

Nero shot the big black man an annoyed look for the lack of paying attention while Dante snorted as he looked over at Barret with a grin. "Barret, you're making us sound like a bunch of pimples." His blue eyes glanced over at Vergil, who was now eyeing Nero. "This is Nero, by the way. I gave him Yamato a few years ago, Vergil. Give it back to him."

"Do not test me, Dante. It was me that Sparda gave Yamato to. It belongs to me. I do not care if you tried to give it to this boy. But it is mine. He will not be getting it back." Vergil said coolly.

Nero just glared right back at him as he tried to move forward again but Dante kept a firm hold on his jacket, keeping him from going anywhere. "I need that." He growled, ignoring the red wearing Demon Hunter. Vergil just shook his head as he looked directly into Nero's eyes. "Well, that's just too tough for you, Nero, was it? My father gave this sword to me. Like I said, I'll let you keep that demon form but this sword is mine. If you truly need some kind of demon sword, then here." He held up a hand towards the younger half demon and began to glow a dull blue. A thin blue trail of energy hovered away from him and into Nero's arm, making him frown and grow very tense. But around him, four transparent swords appeared before disappearing again into the demonic arm.

"Oh, wow. How generous of you, Vergil." said Dante with a smirk, already knowing what Vergil gave him. "You gave him some of your Summon Swords. Now, keep explaining. You planning on killing me with Sephiroth's blade or something?"

Vergil turned his icy blue eyes back onto his twin before shaking his head. It came as a surprise for the Demon hunter and the others actually. They had been expecting him to say yes. "No, Dante. Eventually I will kill you. But you're not my target. My target is actually the one who dwells inside Sephiroth."

There was a stunned silence as everyone stared at him. None of them were sure where he was getting at with this. But the way he just said that, he was being very serious. Dante tilted his head a little while looking directly into his twin brother's eyes. "Explain." He told him.

Vergil was quiet for a long moment as he looked right into Dante's eyes before he folded his hands behind his back. He looked almost as if he wasn't going to answer him at all. But then again, he was considering it. "Sephiroth is not who you think he is." He began. "He looks like Sephiroth, has the power of Sephiroth, has the sword. But he's not entirely Sephiroth. I've been keeping my eye on him for quite some time now. Watching his activities. He's been mostly just going around, gathering demons to join his cause and have them drink from those glowing puddles of liquid. I suppose you call it Mako. He's been trying to get them stronger. Sometimes it works, sometimes it just kills the demons, burning them up like acid. But I began to notice something. Sephiroth goes into these phases where he seems to be fighting himself. Or he has a split personality. He gets into arguments with himself." his head dipped down a little. "With three personalities, actually. Himself and two others. The Sephiroth that you've been fighting now and then is someone you know, Dante. Mundus has taken over Sephiroth's body."

The team members of Avalanche frowned with confusion but when they saw how Dante reacted, they knew something was very wrong. For the minute Vergil said that, Dante's eyes snapped wide open and he stepped back in alarm. Nero just frowned as he glanced between the other two half demons. He knew he had heard of the name Mundus before but he wasn't sure from where. It was sure it was during one of those stupid, boring meetings for the Order of the Sword.

"Vergil, you better be kidding me." Dante said, dryly.

Vergil just shook his head as he looked right at Dante. "Sorry, little brother. I'm not. Mundus, the King of Demons has taken possession of Sephiroth's body. And Sephiroth has taken over the body of a man from this world. I believe it was a trap for him. From what I've heard from the scientists, Hojo and Agnus, they captured the man and injected what I believed they called Jenova cells into him. It nearly killed him but Mundus made sure he stayed alive for it. Unaware of the danger, Sephiroth's spirit took the bait and took control of the man's body." He paused for a moment. "The woman, Elena, I believe, called him Tseng."

Now, the A-Team reacted. They all stepped back in shock while Cloud swore loudly. Barret just shook his head in disbelief. "Aw, god. That ain't good. So Sephiroth is Tseng." He muttered.

"Who is Tseng?" Nero asked, looking at them.

Cloud sighed as he reached up and massaged his forehead. He was not happy about this at all. So that was what Elena had meant when she said don't kill Tseng. "He's a friend of ours. Or at least an acquaintance. This does make things really difficult to work with. Sure we have to kill Sephiroth and this Moon-whatever, whoever that is. But killing Tseng? Hell…..I don't know if we can do that."

"That's Mundus." Vergil corrected him.

"Damn. Rufus and Reno isn't going to be happy about this." Vincent murmured. But then he looked at Dante. "Dante, who is Mundus?"

Dante, all humor completely gone, just shook his head as he dipped his head down a little. He couldn't believe this was happening. Mundus was back. Like he really wanted to deal with him again. But then again, he did remember the demon king saying that he would be back for revenge. "He's a very dangerous demon, Vincent. _**THE**_ demon. He's the King of Demons and the most powerful one out of all of them." his eyes grew very dark at the memories he had with the demon king. "He was the enemy of my father, Sparda and he was my enemy. And the last time we fought, he nearly killed me. If it wasn't for my partner, Trish, I would have been destroyed." He said before shaking his head. "No wonder our worlds are going to Hell. He can open up any Hell Gate he wants. And seeing that he's using Sephiroth's body to walk around, he means business this time."

Vergil nodded in agreement as he folded his arms and looked at the group of friends of this world. "With his already god-like powers and Sephiroth's strength, he will be able to take over whatever world he feels like taking over. It seems to me, he's chosen this world to use to give his demons more power. With the Mako energy, the demons are going to be more powerful than we can ever imagine. So therefore, we have to make sure that the demons do not cross the Hell gates. So therefore, again," He paused before he whirled around in a blue blur, yanking Yamato from its scabbard and slashing towards the Hell Gate just as the head of another bird like demon started to come out of it. The demon froze was if it was a deer caught in headlights before it burst into red light and the Hell Gates fell over into two pieces.

"Damn!" Barret whistled. "That's one sharp sword. No wonder that kid wants it back." He said nodding to Nero, who was not looking very amused that Vergil wouldn't give him back Yamato. Vergil just completely ignored him as he looked right at Dante.

"Yeah, it is, Barret. So it's no wonder Vergil wanted it back. And it's no wonder he needs Sephiroth's sword." The Demon Hunter said not looking away from his twin brother. "So, Verg. What's your plan? You going after Sephiroth, or Mundus on your own or what?"

There was a long pause as Vergil thought to himself before he shook his head. "No. I would think it wise if we call our brotherly hatred a truce for now. Mundus in Sephiroth's body is too dangerous for only one of us alone. And probably more dangerous for just the both of us. So, therefore, I will ally myself with you and your..." He paused eyeing the A-Team with a frown before looking back into his younger twin brother's eyes. "Companions. It would be wise if we worked together if you truly want to save this world from Mundus. He wants to rule both worlds, using this world's life power to create a indestructrable demon army."

Dante just nodded as he eyed his twin brother carefully before he turned around and looked at Cloud and Vincent. "All right, then. Looks like we have one more on our side. It'll be better this way. Fighting Sephiroth, Mundus and Vergil at the same time wasn't exactly only my to do list." He shrugged as he looked at the everyone. "We should probably get back to the airship and enlighten everyone else on what's going on. We're going to need to find the other two Hell Gates before they open up. And I have a personal score to settle with Mundus." He told them. Cloud nodded as he flipped his blonde bangs out of his eyes. "All right then." He turned and looked at Zack, who glanced back. "Let's head back to the Avalanche right now." He said. Everyone nodded as they turned and started out of the mines. Dante walked beside Vergil though, who was eyeing Nero as he walked near Marlene and Denzel. "Verg," The red wearing half demon said, frowning before glancing side wards at his twin, who glanced back at him. "There's something you've got to know about Nero. Something I just found out with Lady's help. She found some very interesting information on the kid that also deals with us and Sparda." He told him.

"Hmm. Really? I'm curious to know what you found out then." Vergil said, lazy eyed.

Dante nodded as he turned his face forward again and kept walking after everyone. "Later. On the airship. I think it's best if we discuss this with Nero too. 'Cause I don't think he has a clue of who he really is." He stated quietly. With that said, no other word passed between the twins as they left with Avalanche and Nero.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Again, sorry for the long awaited chapter update. I had to rewrite this entire chapter because the last one accidently got deleted from my flashdrive. And you know how hard it is to replace a lost file on flashdrives. It's a pain in the ass! Anyway, this chapter might just be as well amusing for everyone. In this chapter, Dante shows off the Devil Arms just a little bit.

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**Time to Hunt Again**

**Chapter 11.**

When they got back to the airship, everyone else was so excited to see Barret back and alive. Tifa had actually thrown herself at her old friend and cried hard into his shoulder. No one could blame her. Barret had practically been her father when she lost her own. So they all could only watch as the two old friends hugged one another. It was a huge relief on everyone that Barret was back. But the happy reunion couldn't last too long. As soon as everyone settled down, Cloud explained why Vergil was back with them, and what they were up against now. The news stunned everyone.

"Cloud, you can't be serious." Yuffie said with alarm as she stared wide-eyed at the blonde. "Sephiroth is Tseng?! And who the hell is Moondos?!"

Vergil made an impatient sound within his throat before giving her an annoyed look. "That is Mundus. And we've already explained it once. Are your ears so clogged up that you did not hear us? Mundus is the King of Demons. He rules the Demon world, commanding legions upon legions of demons into invading the world of man to cause chaos and mayhem and destruction for all human kind." He said dryly.

There was a long pause as everyone just stared at the icy tempered Half Demon with alarm or unease. Dante, however, rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Vergil, quit being so melodramatic and live a little, will ya?" He turned his cool blue eyes onto Yuffie. "Mundus is worst than Sephiroth. End of story. He was mine and Vergil's father's enemy when he was still around. Sparda, our old man, had been one of Mundus' Devil Knights at a time. He could kill hundreds of humans and demons with one swipe of his sword and even more just by himself. But….." He sighed. "As the story goes, he had been in the human world doing some scouting for Mundus when he met my mother, Eva. Vergil's too, of course. Eva was a very beautiful and enchanting lady and that's what drew Sparda to her like a moth with a lightbulb. He totally fell in love with her and that was what caused Sparda to decide to stand with the humans instead of his own kind." He shook his head. "He, himself, fought with Mundus, drawing him back into Hell when he tried to come to the land of men to rule over mankind. With his sword, he put a sealing spell over the Hell Gates, to keep Mundus and any other big demon in Hell. Only very small ones can ever come out." He told them.

"So…..how did he get out again?" Tifa asked frowning as she rest her hands on the bulge she called a impregnated stomach. "If Mundus was sealed up in Hell, how did he get out?"

Dante now gave his twin brother a very dry, but pointing look. "That genius over there." He returned the glare when Vergil shot it at him. "Verg and I had a little falling out when we were in our teen years. It was just right after our mother told us the truth about our old man, since we don't really remember him. Sparda went and got himself killed when we were younger so we don't remember him too well. Eva, however, decided that we needed to know about who Sparda was and she told us. After that, Vergil and I kind of decided to take different paths. I wanted nothing to do with my demonic heritage while Vergil on the other hand said we should embrace it proudly. Demons were extremely evil, **are** extremely evil when it comes to human kind. There only a handful that have a heart." The Demon Hunter shook his head. "After my mother was killed, I swore that I would hunt down the demon who did it, even if I had to kill every single one that came out of the Hell Gates. Vergil wanted to undo the seal that Sparda did on Hell, just to get his power that he locked up behind the gate. Which in the end, caused quite the mess I had to clean up."

"So basically it's his fault that your world, and ours are turning into hell." Denzel said accusingly, giving Vergil a dark look. He then winced when Marlene jabbed him hard in the side and whispered for him to cool it.

Vergil, however, lift his head. "Yes. In a manner of speaking. But I have been doing what I can to make sure none of the demons get out of Hell." He said dryly.

Dante nodded as he glanced at his twin. He had to agree with him there. "He's got a point. After he unlocked the Hell Gates and we got into this huge fight about it, Vergil stayed in Hell to fight out the battles there while I was doing it in the Human world. So in a way, he's just doing the same thing I am. 'Course," He smirked somewhat with amusement, yet with a little resentment with it. "It didn't really help when you tried to take on Mundus and went and got yourself enslaved by the old demon bastard."

The older Half Demon twin gave the younger an icy look. He had not wanted to go to that part. Not with these people. "You handled yourself fine when Mundus was controlling my mind and body, Dante. So do drop it." He said coldly.

"All right! That's enough!" Nero said roughly, now moving in between the twins. He gave them both a very acid like look, almost too acidy. "While we are arguing and trying to explain stuff, Kyrie could be hurt or even dead! I would rather get her back alive and safe! So can we stop the chitchat and go save her already?!" He demanded.

Vergil looked ready to hit the young Half Demon but Dante let out a long sigh and nodded as he moved over to stand next to him. "You're right, kid. Sorry. I swear we will find Kyrie and we will help her before Sephiroth or Mundus hurts her. If we don't," He looked directly at Vergil, rather seriously. "Mundus can use her to open the Hell Gates and keep them open. There won't be any way to closing them again, Verg. We have to find the kid's girlfriend and save her before she gets killed. If she dies on that Hell Gate, you know what will happen. You almost did it yourself to Lady. Well, you and that bald bastard, Arkham. We have to make sure that she doesn't die." He warned him.

There was a long pause before Vergil let out a low sigh and he nodded, turning his icy stare onto the youngest Half Demon. "We will stop Mundus from harming your precious human girl. Make a serious note of that." He said coolly.

Nero narrowed his eyes at him but he nodded. He even pointing his demonic finger at him, giving him a serious look. "You better. Because if she dies, you will die too. I will kill you myself." He said roughly before he turned away and stormed out of the room. Everyone watched him go but no one could blame him for being so acid tempered. The woman he loved was in danger and he was having a rough time coping with it. Any one who was in love could only imagine the emotional breakdown he was going through right that moment.

Dante sighed, shaking his head as he turned his back onto the door and looked at Vergil. "Vergil, cut the kid a break. Just this once. He's been through shit since he was a kid. Unlike us, he hardly ever got to know his own mother and he doesn't even have a clue who his father is. He's been alone, all right? So leave him alone." He remarked.

"So, are you going to explain to me who he is now or what you know about him?" Vergil asked coolly, getting everyone to frown at the sound of that.

The Demon Hunter seemed to hold his breath for a moment as he thought about that answer before shaking his head. "Not yet. There's still something you got to see before I say anything about the kid. Besides, I want him to be here when I do tell you about what I found out. But right now, he's emotionally unstable as it is. It's better to let him calm down first before I say anything. Because what I have to say is only going to make him blow up again." He warned his twin.

"Hey. Just saw Nero a second ago. He looks pissed. What did you do this time, Dante?" Came a familiar voice.

The Demon Hunter just merely glanced over his shoulder at who just spoke to him, more than less was even approaching him with the large steel like box in her hand. He didn't even seem to register who it was at first as he shrugged and turned his attention back onto his twin, who was frowning at the new company. "Aww, you know. The usual. The kid's girlfriend, Kyrie went and got herself kidnapped and now is being held as a sacrifice to the demons. The usual." He told his blonde haired partner.

Then it clicked.

The Demon Hunter just turned sharply and looked at Trish as she stood there, smirking at him with Lady and Lucia right next to her and the former Shinra employees stood there, also looking somewhat amused. "Holy, fricken Hell! Trish! Lady! What are you doing here?!" He asked with surprise.

Both of the She-Devil Hunters just smirked and shook their heads as they stared at him. They were both somewhat amused but irritated that it took him so long to figure out that they had been there. "I swear, Dante. You can be such a dense idiot sometimes. We've actually just arrived, with the help of our new friend, of course." Trish said, now smiling fondly over at Shelke, who looked rather proud of herself. It was the fact that she managed to seal a huge Hell Gate with one of her inventions.

Dante just grinned when he noticed the Pandora's Box in Trish's hand. He was sure glad to see it. "Hey! You brought Pandora!" He said before moving closer to take it. "Where's the rest of them?"

"They're inside Pandora. We brought a few though." Trish remarked.

The Demon Hunter only nodded looking satisfied with what he was seeing as it was. He didn't even bother to ask what ones that his three lady friends decided to bring. All he did was reach for the box to take it from Trish. That is, until Lady moved in between them and slammed her gun's nozzle against his stomach. "First things first," She said dryly before pulling the trigger.

The loud gunfire made everyone jump and look frantically at Dante. Marlene had even screamed and started to hurry forward to see if her friend was okay. But both Denzel and Barret caught a hold of her, keeping her back. They knew that if she tried to get into a fight with this black haired psychotic woman, she might just get hurt. The loud gunshot had made Nero come running back into the room, only to freeze at the sight of the She-Hunters. Dante, however, stopped from grabbing Pandora from Trish before rolling his eyes and stepping back to rub his stomach where he got shot. "All right. What was that one for? I already paid you some money from the last job. So what now?"

"That, Dante," Lady said icily glaring at him. "That is for getting Lucia hurt! Didn't Trish and I tell you to make sure that she didn't get hurt?!"

Dante, once again, rolled his eyes but he shook his head with a sigh. "Yeah. And she's all right now, isn't she? You know I would do anything to make sure that she stayed safe, if I could help it! But at the time, I went all Superman, or Superdemon to make sure this ship thing didn't crash and kill everyone aboard!" He argued his case.

Lady gave him an icy glare before she stopped pointing her gun at him. "All right. I guess I'll give you that much credit. But still," Her eyes trailed right past him and landed on Vergil, who looked bored. Her eyes flashed again and she shoved right past him, now aiming her gun at the Half Demon. "What is he doing here?!" She demanded, though Vergil didn't look too worried that a gun was getting pointed at him.

Marlene, however, didn't like it. Her eyes flashed dangerously and she yanked out her own guns, pointing them at Lady, who didn't even spare her a glance. "Knock it off!" She demanded.

"Marlene, it's fine." Vergil said calmly without glancing over at her. "Even if Mary did shoot me, it wouldn't kill me."

Lady let out a frustrated scream of rage before starting to pull the trigger. She was extremely teed off that he called her by her real name. She hated being called that by anyone else but one person. But that person was dead now. So she was Lady. However, before the hammer could click, Dante placed his hand in between it and the gun, stopping the gun from going off, which only added onto Lady's rage. "Dante! Let go of my gun! I want to kill him!"

"Lady, knock it off! We have bigger problems than your grudge against Vergil." Dante said seriously. "The reason Kyrie is in danger in the first place is because of Mundus. He's in this world and he's trudging around in a psychopath's body, trying to open the Hell Gates in this world!"

That shut her up real fast. Lady, Lucia, Trish and the rest of the others looked at him with alarm at the news.

Then, after Dante calmed Lady down, he explained on exactly what was going on around there, even more than less telling them all about what happened in the Mt. Corel's coal mines. It stunned mostly Rufus and the Turks to hear that Hojo was back and sharing the body of another, and even more when they heard that Sephiroth was possessing the body of Tseng, as well as being possessed by a Devil King. They did not take that news very well. Reno was the most stunned and PO'd. He had lowered his head so low that no one could see the look on his face, but they could tell how upset he was. His hands were balled up so tight that his knuckles turned white and blood was now starting to trail through his fingers from his nails digging into his palms.

"Reno," Rufus said calmly reaching over to try and calm him down. "We will get him back."

But the red haired Turk turned sharply away and stomped right out of the room, with a look of venom on his face. So he was not taking this very well at all. Everyone could see that. Still, his reaction surprised a few, but the Ex-President of Shinra and the Turks. They all sighed and shook their heads.

"Looks like Reno's pretty close to this Tseng guy, huh?" Lady said frowning, her arms folded over her curvy chest.

Rufus sighed as he ran his fingers through his fine, blonde hair. "You have no idea. Tseng is the one who found Reno when he was a kid and brought him into the Turk program. It pretty much saved Reno's life when Tseng did that." He shook his head, looking around at everyone. "As most of us have, Reno's had a real rough life. Hardly anyone really knows too much about Reno's past but….when Reno was just a young boy, he was born into a very unfortunate family in Midgar City. His mother was…..assaulted and brutally killed by Don Corneo's men," His blue eyes flickering over to Cloud, whose face hardened at the very name. "And his father was a raving drunk in Sector 8. He used to beat on Reno just for sport. That, and a few other things." He said, rather uneasily.

Just by the sound of that, it had most gritting their teeth with rage in their eyes now. They were all starting to get the idea of what Rufus was talking about. "That's horrible. So Reno's really seen the cruelty of Midgar City." Tifa said, her hand over her mouth.

Rufus just nodded as he looked down at the ground. "Reno has been through so much crap in his life, and he has seen the cruel side of the slums. Which is why he had no problem setting that bomb on Sector Seven." He held up a hand when Barret, Tifa and Cloud gave him a dark look for even mentioning that. "However, the point is, Reno ran away from that home and ended up looting for food and shelter. He had to kill rats just to eat and survive. The world is a very hard place when you're an eight year old runaway, living on the streets. Well, how Reno and Tseng met, it was actually kind of funny. Reno tried to stealing some food from a street vendor and some soldiers tried to arrest him." He chuckled at the memory, though truthfully it had been what Reno told him, himself. "Reno was twelve at the time and he had learned how to fight by watching a few dojos or watching street fights, so he kind of beat the living hell out of the soldiers, using his street smarts. Tseng happened to be standing by and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. So he approached Reno, took him off the street, gave him food and new clothes. And then eventually, he signed him on into the Turk Program. Tseng literately saved his life."

Most of everyone had to smile at the tale. It was pretty touching, actually. Though, Vergil didn't like he cared either way. He just wanted to get to work and get a hold of Sephiroth's sword to kill Mundus.

Dante then shrugged as he looked around at everyone. "Well, let's not disappoint Reno then. We'll find a way of separating Tseng from Sephiroth." He then looked over at Cid. "Hey, bad mouthing pilot, when can we get this bird back up in the sky?"

Cid gave Dante a look for the name he gave him but then shook his head as he reached up and plucked the toothpick from his mouth. "Sephiroth put a damn hole in the side of my baby, Dante! What do you think?!" he paused for a second before shaking his head. "NO! The Shera won't be ready any time soon to fly until we can patch up all of the damages! And because of the crash the other day, some of our equipment took some heavy beatings. Unless you know where I can find something that can melt metal quickly and patch the holes, we ain't fricken going anywhere."

There was a pause before Dante smirked and slowly turned his head to look as his beautiful blonde haired partner, raising his eyebrow at her. "What do you think, babe? You up to some repair duty?" He asked, making Cid and most of the others frown.

But Trish rolled her eyes still smirking before shrugging. She only moved closer and shoved the Pandora's Box into the Demon Hunter's hand before looking over at Cid. "All right. Fine. I'll be your little torch burner. Hey! Show me where the holes are and I'll patch them up." She told the pilot.

Cid frowned but then shrugged. "All 'ight. Don't see I didn't fricken warn ya. They're pretty decent sized holes that Sephiroth's cut into my baby." He then pointed at one of his workers. "Hey! You! Take the lady to inspect the damages and help her out in whatever she needs. I don't know what she can do to fix the Shera but then again, I've underestimated Marlene once. I ain't gonna do that again." He announced. The worker only nodded before motioning to Trish to follow him. She just shrugged again and followed after him. Lady decided that she would go to because she was right after them. She didn't want to hang around in the same room as Vergil anyway. She figured she would go find Reno and see if he was okay or not.

Dante looked over at Shelke, as if he decided on something else too. "Hey, Kid." He ignored the sharp look she shot him for the nickname again. "Do you think you can speed things up and help us find out where Sephiroth and Mundus has the Hell Gates?"

Shelke frowned for a moment before she nodded. She was starting to decide to not even bother scolding the Demon Hunter for calling her a kid. It was starting to get irritating but she would have to just ignore him. Instead, she lift her arm up and began typing away at her small computer, pushing several buttons before the small screen flashed green. Before anyone knew it, a huge hologram shout out from the computer, surrounding everyone. They were surrounded by a hologram of a world map. It amazed mostly Lucia and Vergil, seeing they really hadn't seen this yet. On the world map, most of the land masses were in green with a few several white masses here and there. But at certain points there were red lights all over. But the large red lights were practically in the middle of the ocean and at the top of the map.

"So, what's these?" Dante asked, pointing at the lights.

Shelke shook her head as she typed out a few things on her computer but then pointed at some of the lights. "This is the world map, as you know. The white areas are mostly human cities. Most human inhabitances are there. The red dots you see are a few demons."

"So, the red masses are high demonic activity." Guessed Vergil.

The young girl looked over at him but nodded as she turned back to type on her computer. The hologram changed a little, moving a little closer to the huge masses. "Correct. The most demonic activity is happening where the most red is. It seems to me that the small island of Mideel and the Northern Crater is taking massive demonic hits." She turned her stoic eyes over to Vincent, who was watching her carefully. "If my calculations are correct, which they mostly are, that is where we will find the other two Hell Gates." She told them all while turning off her computer.

Cloud nodded, looking at her with satisfaction. Then he looked over at Dante, who was impressed with what Shelke just revealed. "Then once the Shera is fixed, that's where we will be heading. Mideel is closer so we'll head there first." He then nodded to the steel box in Dante's hand. "So what's with the metal brief case, Dante?"

The Demon Hunter looked down at Pandora before grinning and looking back at Cloud. He didn't answer for a moment as he lift it up, showing everyone. "Brief case? Please, Cloud. This is not brief case. This is one of the best Devil Arms I have on my hands." He paused when everyone but Lucia, Vergil, Zack and Nero frowned, a little confused.

"Devil Arms? You mean weapons? That thing, is a weapon?" Yuffie asked skeptically.

Dante grinned and nodded as he lowered Pandora's Box again to his side. "Yep. And one of the best I have." He chuckled when everyone looked a little skeptical. So with a sigh and a shrug, he turned away from them. "All right. I think a demonstration is in order. Let's take this outside. I'm sure that you do not want to do this in here because these things can destroy this ship if we do it inside." He told them before leaving. Everyone glanced at one another before shrugging and following him out.

Dante lead everyone a decent several yards away from the airship before he turned to face the others, holding the Pandora's Box at his side. He looked as if he was enjoying himself with the suspense about the metallic box. But with a shrug, he set it down in front of him. "All right. Lucia and Zack already knows about my box of tricks. Nero has some clue but he hasn't really seen what it does, and my dear twin brother doesn't have a clue. So let's start with the basic magic tricks." He nodded to the box under his feet. "In this box, I have some of the best weapons to offer. They are all devil spirits turned into weapons for my use. But seeing that we're dealing with Mundus, I think it's best to loan some of you my Devil Arms." He then bent down and unclasped the box's lock. "Ladies and Gentlemen, hold onto your hats. You're in for a light show."

Then he kicked it open.

A brilliant, blinding light erupted from the box, making everyone have to raise an arm to shield their eyes but once it dimmed a little, they were allowed to see what the box was doing. In honesty, they only saw a metallic box emitting a blinding white light. But as they tried to get a closer look to see what was inside, they were all surprised to see nothing but white oblivion.

"What…..?" Cloud asked confused before looking at Dante, who was smirking to himself. "What is it, Dante? What's in there?"

Dante merely shrugged as he looked down into the white void inside the box. "You never really know what secrets Pandora's hiding inside of it. This thing sometimes even confuses me. But I'm pretty sure that my other Devil Arms are inside there." He then bent lower to the white void, looking closer. "All right! Who wants to come out and meet our new friends first?" He called into the box. It actually made everyone frown, thinking that the Demon Hunter might have lost his marbles.

But when violent, purple sparks began to emit from inside and the crackling sound of lightning drifted right out of the Pandora's Box, they were all starting to get the idea that they were underestimating Dante and his Devil Arms. Especially when a great ball of purple electricity shot right out of the Pandora's Box and landed right into Dante's arms, who was grinning as he looked down at the demonic spirit in his arms.

"Well. Looks like it's Nevan first." He remarked as the electricity danced around him.

Surprising to everyone else, in Dante's arms now sat a large violent-purple, electric guitar. Sparks were dancing along the neck of the guitar and trailing along the Demon Hunter's arms. It seemed to have sharp edges along the sides though. And it surely didn't look like a weapon. But then Dante grinned mischievously at the others watching him before he struck a cord on the guitar, now starting to play a hard rock like melody. And as he played, bolts of violate electricity danced around him while black bats seemed to just emerge from them, now swirling around him like a storm. If that wasn't surprising enough, Dante ended the little deadly musical number by spinning rapidly around and lashing out with the guitar as if he was going to smash it against the ground. But instead, it went through a very quick transformation, becoming a nasty looking scythe.

"Whoa." Both Denzel and Marlene remarked as they stared with awe, along with everyone else.

Dante just smirked as he just looked the scythe over, straightening. He actually looked at this weapon fondly. "That's my beauty for ya. She likes to show off a little." He then held up the scythe. "Nevan, babe, as much as I'd like to play with you, we do have a little crisis on our hands. So I'm lending you to one of my friends." His eyes then lift up and he looked directly at Denzel. "And since our young friend seems to have a sparking personality, he can go ahead and use you." He said releasing the scythe.

As if the weapon had a mind of its own, which in a way it did, the scythe sparked violently before shooting directly to the young warrior, who stepped back in shock but then looked even more surprised to find the scythe now in his hands. More or less, sparks were running along his arms and down, but not hurting. "Wow." He couldn't help but murmur in surprise.

Dante just chuckled at the look on Denzel's face, more or less, Marlene's. They were both admiring the Devil Arms that he had just loaned the young swordsman. The Demon Hunter just shook his head as he smirked at them. "Be careful, Denzel. Nevan happens to be a bigger flirt than your girlfriend, there." He said, giving Marlene a wink who was trying to decide if she was going to blush or glare at him. She eventually settled for both. But the Demon Hunter wasn't paying too much attention to them anymore. Instead, he turned his attention back to Pandora's Box. "All right. Who's next?"

A dog like growl was his answer before a very cold chill began to swirl around everyone. Then a rolling mist began to rise out of the metallic box, rising even above Dante, who was just shaking his head with a smirk on his face. The cold mist seemed to have taken on the form of a three headed dog.

"Well, I didn't see this one coming. Looks like they're a little anxious." Dante stated before nodding to Vincent. "Hey, Vince. You think you have a real Cerberus on your hands, wait till you see mine."

The mist suddenly flashed and began to bend into something else. Hovering over Dante's head, now was a three clubbed like nunchuku linked to a metal ring. The metallic rods with sharp edges at the top were icy blue, looking as if they were made out of ice, their selves. They were slowly revolving before they launched towards an unsuspecting Yuffie Kisaragi. She yelped, lashing out her hands to shield herself from getting hit, only to have the nunchuku start spinning in her palm, leaving an icy mist swirling around her. She looked astonished that the Devil Arms had even chosen her but with a sly smile curling on her face, she spun around, now testing it out. She spun the nunchuku rapidly around her, leaving only icy trails before she held the weapon up. "Neeto!" She said grinning.

Dante just grinned, shaking his head before he looked back into Pandora's Box to see who was next. Before he even had to say anything, there came a blast of wind and fire from within the box, surrounding him like a tsunami before two blades stabbed into the ground in front of him in X's. These two, however, the Demon Hunter frowned at and stared dryly at. "Oh, hell no!" He groaned before giving Lucia a dry stare. "Trish just had to grab these two, didn't she?"

Lucia just laughed softly as she folded an arm over her stomach and cover her mouth with the other hand. She just shook her head as shrugged at the same time. "Hey, Dante. You didn't say which ones not to bring." She remarked.

The Demon Hunter just rolled his eyes before he looked down at the two blades before him. The two blades were somewhat alike, the both of them. They were both like scimitars and looked very sharp on both sides of the blade. They both even had strange bulbous like heads sitting on top of the hilts. There was even a pair of matching faces on the heads. The only difference between the two was that one was fiery red and the other was sky blue. "Well I guess it can't be helped since they're here." Dante said before he placed his fists onto his waist. "These two are Agni and Rudra. They're not bad weapons at all. No, they're actually one of my best swords I have, other than Rebellion and Alastor. Problem is……"

**"Oh, wow, dear brother! Did you hear that?!"** came a very grotesque voice, which startled most of the Avalanche members and the former Shinra employees.

_"Yes! Yes! I did, brother! He actually complimented on us!"_ came another voice, which was a little deeper than the other. And surprisingly to everyone but Dante, it had been the swords who spoke. The heads actually began to blink and move their mouths.

While the people of the Planet looked stunned at the blades, Dante looked highly annoyed as he quickly lashed out and grabbed the swords by the handles, yanking them out of the ground. He turned them slightly to look down at the heads, making them facing him. "What did I tell you two about talking?!" He demanded.

The two heads made a pout on both of their faces as they looked right up at him. **"Oh, come on. We haven't spoken for ages now. You never take us out on missions anymore."** The flame like sword's head remarked.

The other blade's head bobbed a little. _"Yes, yes. We're getting rusty here. And besides, didn't you say that we were excellent swords? We only want to help." _

"Ugh." The Demon Hunter groaned before he shook his head and tossed the swords into the air, which both became a spinning vortex of flames and wind. "Fine, fine. As long as you just shut up around me, I don't care who you annoy." He remarked. The spinning blades began to laugh as they spun rapidly around the red wearing Half Demon before spinning just as rapidly around everyone, causing their hair to whip around their faces before coming to a suddenly halt right front of two different people's hands, who didn't have a choice but to catch them before getting sliced open.

Cloud and Zack.

The two swordsmen had lashed out just as the blades spun rapidly around them and caught them by the hilts. But the impact against their hands sent both of them spinning a little. Cloud ended up going down to one knee while Zack remained standing. They were both amazed by the Devil Arm's choices but they could feel the power coursing through both of them. Zack had received Agni, the fire blade while Cloud now held Rudra, the wind blade.

Dante merely shrugged as he folded his arms. He didn't look to surprised that Agni and Rudra chose to be possessed by these two. In truth, he had expected it the minute he saw them. The two former Soldiers of Shinra were excellent swordsmen and nearly had the same techniques as the other. "Well, I'm not surprised." He remarked before pointing at them. "The problem with those two, as I was saying earlier, is that they don't shut up. They talk way too much. The only way to shutting them up is to clink their heads together. So if they start annoying you by talking, just smack them together."

**"Awww. You're so mean!"** Agni remarked, with a pout.

_"Yes, yes. He's always hitting our heads together when we try to start up a conversation."_ Rudra added.

Smirking, Cloud and Zack glanced at one another as they stood side by side each other. In truth, they found these two completely amusing. But just to keep Dante from marching over and bashing the heads against the ground, seeing that he was getting very close to doing it, they both rose the swords and clinked the heads together. It shut the twin scimitars up very quickly.

Still somewhat un-amused, Dante turned his attention onto Pandora's Box, looking down within in the box. However, he paused when Barret started chuckling after the deal with the twin swords. He just stepped closer, nodding to Dante. "Hey, Dante! You got something in that box for an Old Gunner like me?" He remarked.

The Demon Hunter smirked as he glanced side wards at Barret before looking into Pandora. He seemed to have thought of the perfect weapon then. "All right. Let's see who else we have in here. Anyone want to join up with Barret?" He remarked into the box.

Suddenly the there was a flash of green and silver before there came an acid green flash shooting out of the box. It zigzagged all over the place before shooting off at Barret, who could not help but step back in alarm. The acid green aura hit his gunarm, causing it to automatically start shifting. To Barret and everyone's surprise, it was now a demonic looking gun with runic markings all over it and red orbs.

"Ahhh. Looks like Artemis has decided to be your little weapon of choice, Barret." Dante said grinning.

Barret looked at the Devil Arms merged with his own arm with awe but confusion. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with it but as if it read his mind, the demonic gun began to glow before firing off at a tree multiple times, nearly incinerating it. "Whoa-ho, ho!" Barret now chuckled as he looked at the damage it just caused. "Not too shabby."

Dante just nodded with a snort of amusement before he looked back into the Pandora's box to see what else was in there. He seemed to have seen something because he grinned. "Well, well. Look who's deciding to show up." He lift his eyes and looked right at Vincent. "I think it's your turn, Vincent. Now I know you're a gunner but I think this one might just suit you. Don't you think," He paused looking back into the box just as a dark aura rose right out of Pandora and then began to swirl in the air. It then shot towards Vincent, as if it had known who Dante had been talking about. The Ex-Turk grew tense for a second before he felt a little pressure on his back. He tilted his head around he saw metallic claws right over his shoulder. "Lucifer." Dante finished.

Now sitting on Vincent's back, there was a metallic apparatus with two long claw like arms hanging down behind him, emitting red blades. On the center of it was a hellish skull with a blood red rose in its sharp teeth.

"Now I know you're not much of a swordsman, Vincent," Dante began to explain grinning at his tall, dark friend. "But Lucifer is more just a sword summoning weapon. The blades that come out can be thrown. Give it a try. You'll see what I mean."

Vincent felt himself smirk as he looked at the Devil Arms hanging on his back but then he looked down at one of the red blades hanging near his hand. He figured why now. So with a flash of his hand, he grabbed a blade and pulled it out before flinging away from him. The red blade whistled loudly in the air before hitting the trunk of a tree nearly ten yards away.

Grinning, Dante folded his arms and dipped his head down. "Boom." He remarked.

Suddenly, the red blade began to glow violently red before exploding, sending tree bits flying every where in the air. And it wasn't really just a small explosion either. It was actually rather big. It literately destroyed the tree, surprising all. Vincent tilted his head to the side, looking very impressed. He had to admit it, but this weapon might just prove useful to him when fighting Hojo. He turned his blood red gaze onto Dante, giving him a nod of satisfaction.

"Yeah. I knew you'd like that one." Dante said grinning at him before he reached into Pandora's box and pulled something out. To everyone's surprise and alarm, it was a very big demonic sword with a flesh like appearance. It was a grotesque looking sword but no doubt very powerful. It was nearly as tall as Dante, himself. And it was a sword that had immediately perked up Vergil's attention. He hadn't been the slightest interested in what Dante's toys were and who they were given to. But seeing this one, his eyes grew sharp and he eyed it as if he wanted it for himself.

"Ah. This one." Dante remarked as he held up the huge sword before stabbing it into the ground beside him. "That one will be the last to give out. I know very well who it's going to." And he then he pointed at Vergil who was giving him a sharp look. "And no, Verg. It's not you. The sword will choose its own master."

Vergil glared at him but was ignored.

Dante, however, kicked Pandora's Box softly, closing it and then picked it up. He looked right at the skull on the side of it, giving it a smile as if it was a real thing. But then again, after seeing the Devil Arms move on their own, the Avalanche and the former Shinra employees figured that they were. "Pandora, looks like you're up." He told it before releasing it.

The metallic box became a flash of white before whirling around much like the other Devil Arms had done. It swirled around the entire ground before coming at a stop right in a very unsuspected person's hand. Marlene's hand. Marlene blinked in surprise as she held the metallic brief case in her hand before making a face. She didn't look too amused that she was getting this one. "A briefcase, Dante? You're giving me a glowing white briefcase as a weapon? What in the hell am I suppose to do with a briefcase?! Open it up and hope it sucks up demons into it?!" She demanded, crinkling her nose.

Dante just laughed shaking his head. He had suspected that whoever got Pandora would be skeptical. He, like everyone, had been a little surprised that it would be Marlene who got it but amused. "That, Marlene, my lovely little lady, is not just an ordinary briefcase. Like I said before, that is one of the best weapons a gunner can ever have." He said grinning before reaching up and grabbing the pendant around his neck. To everyone's surprise, the Silver Materia began to glow brightly.

"Dante, what the hell are you doing?" Vergil asked dryly.

The Demon Hunter merely glanced at his twin before shaking his head. He just smirked right at him before turning his icy eyes back onto Marlene, just as red swirls began appear right out of the air. Small Hell gates began to open up, revealing a few demons now jumping out of them. Everyone grew tense and eventually started grabbing at their weapons but Dante held up his hand towards them. "It's just a little demonstration. That's all. Marlene, using Pandora, why don't you just kill all of these things?"

"With a briefcase, Dante? Are you friggen kidding me?" Marlene asked dryly, placing her hand onto her waist.

Dante just grinned at her then waved a hand towards her as the demons began moving towards her. He seemed highly amused by her reaction, even though she didn't share his enthusiasm. "Just open it up and it'll do all of the work. You'll get the idea." He told her.

Rolling her eyes like a teenager who didn't get her way, Marlene shook her head as she turned and looked around at the demons now moving in on her. She just gave the Pandora's Box a dry stare before flipping it open. Brilliant light began to surround her and to her surprise, it began to shift in her hand. The light began to dim after a few moments and revealed a very large, nasty looking shuriken. She couldn't believe her eyes. The demonic shuriken seemed to react all on its own though, as if it knew that she was too stunned to do anything. It began to spin rapidly in the air before shooting off away from her, now spinning around her and hitting the demons, knocking them all backwards with slashes in their bodies. Spinning right back to Marlene, it dropped down in front of her, glowing brilliant and shifting once again. Only this time, it was a large ground machine gun.

Smirking, Marlene jumped onto it and began firing at the demons, hitting them with several rounds of bullets.

If that wasn't enough, the Devil Arms shifted again, only this time right around Marlene, now lifting her up a little as it seemed to begin to growing around her into a very large weapon. It became a large missile launching weapon, where she would sit in the center. In her hand there was a remote with a large red button. Smirking, Marlene decided to push it. Missiles exploded right out of the beams surrounding her and began to fly in many directions, swirling around the started observers before hitting demons and sending them flying away from everyone. At a certain distance away from everyone, they all exploded.

No demon was standing anymore.

When all of the demons were gone, the weapon shifted right back into the metallic briefcase, sitting casually in Marlene's hand as if nothing ever happened. No longer did the teenage girl looked disappointed but a sly grin on her face as she looked down at the weapon. "Cool." Was all she could figure out to saying.

Dante on the other hand was laughing at the look on Denzel's face. The young swordsman looked at his childhood friend as if he had just barely fell in love with her that very moment. "Hey, Marlene. I think Denzel enjoyed that show." He remarked slyly.

Both Marlene and Denzel shot him a look but they were blushing furiously.

Vergil, however, reached over and snatched up Sparda, yanking it right out of the ground. It caught Dante's attention. The two twins now gave each other a cold stare as they faced one another. Dante shook his head as he looked at Vergil with a serious look. "That sword is not for you, Vergil. You have Yamato, all right?"

"And you have Rebellion." Vergil remarked coolly. "If this sword is not meant for me, it's not meant for you. Yet you possess it as if it is."

Dante merely shrugged as he folded his arms before he reached out towards his twin brother. There was a very uneasy pause between to the two but it only surprised everyone when Vergil decided to hand his younger twin the large blade. "You're right, Vergil. It isn't meant for me either. You have Yamato. I have Rebellion. They're both swords given to us from Sparda." He then held out Sparda off to the side, as if he was giving it to someone. "Therefore, it's meant for someone else." He said before turning his face towards the sword. But his eyes looked past the red and silver blade and trained right onto Nero.

For a moment, Nero didn't realize that Dante was talking about him. That is until Vergil and everyone else was staring at him. He suddenly realized that Dante was giving him the Great sword of Sparda. "What?! Me?!" He asked in alarm.

Dante nodded only once before tossing the sword towards him, which the younger Half Demon caught by the handle with his human hand. He was very aware that his older twin brother was glaring fiercely at his back, but he chose to ignore him. Instead, he folded his arms and smirked at Nero, who held the huge sword his hand as if it were alive. "Yup. You get Sparda, kid. Vergil's got Yamato. And I have Rebellion. It's only best if you possess the Sparda. It'll serve you better than it serves me. All I've been doing with it is leaving it up on a shrine for our dear old dad and collecting dust." He told him. "And since Vergil decided to take Yamato back, I'm giving you Sparda. Call it a gift from the old man, himself."

Everyone frowned as they listened to what he was saying, or the way he was saying. Especially Vergil, who frowned and tilted his head as if to catch something that might have been on the wind. Nero just slowly shook his head as he held up the huge sword, looking at it before turning his eyes back onto Dante. "I still don't see why you're loaning it to me."

"Loaning it to you?" Dante asked, chuckling. "I said I'm giving it to you, Kid. Sparda is now yours."

Nero still looked very bewildered by the Demon Hunter's words. He didn't understand at all of why he was doing this. He could already tell that Vergil was getting even more agitated than he already was. "But why me, Dante? I don't have anything to do with Sparda."

There was a very long pause as Dante looked thoughtfully at him. He looked as if he was choosing his words carefully. He didn't seem ready to tell Nero why he was giving the great demon sword to him, yet. But with a smirk, the Demon Hunter shrugged as he turned back towards the airship. "You might be right, kid." He paused before glancing over his shoulder, looking directly into Nero's eyes. "But are you 100 percent sure of that? Because I'm sure not." He said before turning slightly back. "They say that many eras ago, when Sparda took up his sword into his right hand, it looked like it was alive. It pulsed with a heartbeat and it even seemed to breath. And it moved with every thought in Sparda's head. As if it was apart of him." He then turned away again. "Try holding that sword in your right hand, Nero. And you'll see why I'm giving Sparda to you." And with that said, he walked towards the airship with Lucia right behind him.

Everyone just stood there in silence, a little dazed and confused of what Dante had just said. Vergil, however, frowned suspiciously before tilting his head towards Nero, who was staring at the sword in his left hand. He was actually a little curious to see what would happen, both of the Half Demons. Slowly, Nero shifted the Sword of Sparda into his demonic hand.

And when he did, it only startled Nero, and everyone else, to see the huge veins on the sword begin pulsing. The Sword of Sparda, named after its master, was actually starting to pulse with life. Just like Dante had said.

Vergil just narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the younger Half Demon, watching as the sword actually did what Dante said that it would. He really didn't like this at all. But it seemed that Dante had been speaking the truth about Sparda. The sword was meant for Nero. But why? He couldn't only wonder. Gritting his teeth a little, the oldest Half Demon turned sharply and headed straight towards the airship. He was going to demand answers from Dante. It was time to find out what in the hell his younger twin was up to and what he knew.


	12. Chapter 12

**Time to Hunt Again**

**Chapter 12.**

* * *

By the next morning, the Shera was up in the air again, fixed and good as new. The metal was gleaming in the morning sun, though the ship looked somewhat scarred from a terrible battle. Either way, it was flying and Cid was happy. He must have thanked Trish several times for fixing his baby. The beautiful blonde She-Devil just flaunted a little before looking at Dante and smirking at him. "Well, at least someone knows how to thank me and show me gratitude." She remarked. Dante and Vergil both rolled their eyes while Lady smirked as she stood next to her fellow She-Devil. She didn't even bother remark, knowing that Dante would throw a fit about how they were tag teaming him again. It was almost worth it though.

"So what's the plan?" Barret asked as he let Marlene lean up against him, his large bulky arm wrapped around her. After not seeing each other for a year, they were trying to catch up on their father-daughter relationship.

"We get in, we kick demon ass. How's that?" Dante asked, grinning, his arms folded.

Everyone just smiled and shook their heads. Vergil was one of the few to roll his eyes before glancing over at Nero. The younger half demon had not stopped sulking as he stood by the window, looking out at the sky with a fist pressed against his mouth. He was no doubt very worried about his girlfriend, Kyrie. No one could blame him either. There was a good possibility that she might get killed.

Vergil narrowed his eyes at Nero's back but shook his head as he turned his icy blue eyes onto his twin brother, who had been watching him from the corner of his eyes. "Dante," He spoke up almost warningly.

"Vergil." Dante repeated in the same warning tone. "Right now, I can't tell you. It's best that I don't right at this moment. We are about to go into a fight. The kid needs to be able to concentrate."

The older twin shook his head again, his eyes narrowing into deadly slits. "Dante, Nero already can't concentrate." He said, catching the spoken's attention and making him turn to watch, just like a few of the others. "Tell me now."

"Verg, no." Dante said, now starting to get a little serious. He could sense that Vergil's demonic energy was starting to build up, due to his silent temper.

Trish and Lady glanced at one another, frowning just like everyone. And just like everyone, they had no idea what the hell the twins were growling at each other about now. But then the blonde's eyes sparked with interest as something turned the light bulb in her head. Especially when Vergil started to shoot a look towards Nero. She let out a short huff before folding her arms and shifting her weight. "Dante, you didn't tell the kid anything, did you?" She asked, laughing dryly.

Nero, of course, realized that they were talking about him now. He frowned, tilting his head curiously then moved over. "Tell me what?" He asked, his eyes now shifting between Dante and Vergil.

Dante let out an un-amused sigh and threw his arms up above his head. "The kid is not ready to know, people! I'll tell him on my own time, dammit." He ground out.

"Tell me what?!" Nero now demanded, his eyes growing hard.

There was a long silence within the Shera's cockpit, the entire Avalanche group watching silently and quite confused. They knew better than to jump into this little situation though. It was none of their business anyway. Some of them were even starting to glance at one another then moving towards the doors. They figured it was best to leave this between the half demon twins and the kid, Nero.

Dante looked away for a moment, catching Trish's eyes, who was now giving him a very stern look. And he saw that she was not the only one. Lady was also giving him a very stern look, so she also knew what they were talking about. And she probably knew what Dante was meant to tell Nero.

"Dante, he needs to know what his true powers are." Lucia said, revealing that she also knew as she moved over to the half demon in red and lightly touched his arm.

"Did it ever occur to anyone that I might be the one not ready to tell the kid?" Dante asked, his tone very dry as he glared off to the side.

Trish and Lady both rolled their eyes while Vergil and Nero glared at him. They were starting to lose their patients with him, and it really couldn't be helped. "Dante, don't make this about you! This is about him and who he really is!" The trigger happy, huge gun toting black haired beauty snapped as she fingered her Kalina Ann.

By now, Nero was not only upset about Kyrie, he was now getting pissed off that they weren't even telling him what the hell they were talking about. So to ensure that they told him, he went straight over to Dante and roughly grabbed the front of his jacket, getting a dark look for it. "What the hell are you talking about?! What about me?! What is it you're not telling me about?!" He demanded.

"And me." Vergil asked quietly yet dangerously.

"Oh, shut up, Vergil!" Dante and two of the Lady Demon Hunters snapped at the same time, receiving very dangerous looks for their remarks.

Sighing, Dante reached out and pushed Nero away from him, not caring that he was still hovering near him, glaring. He really didn't want to jump to this right at the moment. Not with all of the many distractions. He had noticed that most of the Avalanche members had left, but it was mostly Marlene and Denzel and even Shelke that stuck around. Even Reno and Rude were hovering in the door ways while the other Avalanche members were just out in the hall. It was no doubt that they would hear it anyway. And it was no doubt that they might hear Nero explode when he did tell him.

Running his fingers through his fine white hair, the red wearing Demon Hunter finally looked directly into Nero's eyes, who was still glaring at him for the information. "Fine. You want to know, fine. I'll tell you. But I still think you're not ready to know." He shook his head as he jabbed a finger in Trish's direction. "Remember when I first met you and you first met Trish as Gloria?" He wanted to bark out a laugh when Nero grimaced, his face starting to turn slightly pink at some memory he had of Trish. It definitely made the others a little curious of why he kept glancing over at Trish, who was snickering to herself. "Well, during that whole thing, Gloria, over there, did some snooping around the library archives and eventually got snooping around the private section. She found some book that was in a highly secured safe, which she broke into anyway, and found something very important." He said, before looking over at the blonde.

"Sparda's journal." Trish remarked as she placed her hand onto her curvy hip. She glanced over at Vergil when he took a step forward, looking surprised but serious.

Dante nodded as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a smoky black, leather bound book and held it up. He ignored the fact that Vergil looked more interested and even started moving forward as if to snatch it away. He just moved it into his other hand, keeping it away from his older twin. It didn't help though as Vergil turned into a blur and stole the book away from him, moving away from him as he began glancing through the book.

Instead, Dante rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "I've read it. It's just his diary since he's been living in the human world. He's been recording his human life in the book, trying to leave behind some kind of memento." He remarked before shifting his weight. "So far, it's been a bit boring if you ask me. Nothing......."

"What does it have to do with me?" Nero asked impatiently glaring dully at the other Half Demon.

Dante snorted before glancing over at Vergil, who was flipping through the book as if he was trying to search for what his twin was trying to get at. "Some time after Vergil and I was born, right before he ended up getting himself killed in battle, the Old man went to Fortuna City." He looked directly back at Nero, who was now starting to look a little tense. "Some demon thought it would be funny to try and trick him into doing something that might make him vulnerable to attacks. It didn't work. But the trick somewhat did. He did some kind of shape shifting spell and placed it onto some girl, rearranging her memories a little and making her think she was someone else. Want to take a crack at who the demon was making her look like or think like?"

No one answered but Vergil suddenly hissed as he found something in the back of the journal, his eyes turning very sharp look onto Dante and then onto Nero.

"Our mother." Dante simply said, looking directly at Nero, who stepped back, glancing from him to Vergil then back. He only shook his head with a tight smile on his face. "Sparda was tricked to thinking his wife, Vergil and my mother, had come to see him in Fortuna. And because he missed her a little too much, he did the dirty." He told him.

Still, no one spoke but stared grimly or in surprise at Dante. They were starting to get the idea of what he was talking about.

"This......is.....impossible!" Vergil suddenly burst out, now glaring at his twin and then shooting Nero a look. He dropped the book, not caring about it any more. He just moved forward, glaring at his twin, shaking his head as he jabbed a finger towards Nero. "He can't be......!!!"

Dante finally turned his cold blue eyes towards him, shaking his head as he shared the look he was getting. "But he is, Vergil. Like it or not. Nero is our little half brother. He is a Son of Sparda." He told him sternly.

Nero's breath caught in his chest as he stared wide eyed between the twins, slowly stepping back until his back met the metal cockpit wall. Even Denzel and Marlene looked shocked and the conversations outside the room had stopped immediately. Everyone had heard that bit of news. And no one could say anything as they just listened.

"Wh-what?" The younger Half Demon stammered shaking his head. His breathing was becoming hyperventilating. "Wh-what are you.......?

Sighing, Trish stepped forward, looking at him. "Sparda impregnated a different woman, Nero. Your mother. When he found out that he had been tricked to sleeping with another human woman, he went berserk. He ripped the demon responsible into pieces and even went through the Hell Gates that he locked to destroy the demon's very essence so that he couldn't be reborn or anything. And that's how he opened up the Hell Gates again. And that's what Mundus had planned that caused Sparda's demise." She began to explain. "Mundus had the demons flood the gates to get out, overwhelm Sparda during his time of rage. That's how all of the peace just destroyed even after Sparda locked the Hell Gates again, destroying himself in the process. He was trying to keep Mundus in."

"It worked for some time until a certain someone." Dante remarked, shooting Vergil a look, who was glaring dangerously at him. He ignored him though as he went over to the book that was on the ground and scooped it back up. Flipping it to the last pages of the book, he shook his head. "Of course, before he locked the gates to Fortuna, he finished his diary and tossed it through before closing it. He really had hoped that it got back to Eva after he died, so that she could give it to us. Just so that we would know what he had done." He said, shaking his head again before tossing the book over to Nero.

Nero caught the journal as if it was diseased but either way, he flipped the book open to the last page where there was a letter written. It was to Sparda's sons.

_Dear Dante and Vergil, _

_At this time, I must apologize to you both. I have done some terrible deeds by leaving you two and your mother to defend yourselves in this cold world, fighting the final battles and locking the Hell Gates to save your world. Forgive me, my sons. I had intended to watch you grow, help you master your powers and control your demon sides. But alas, I cannot. I must do what I intend to do now. If the Demon King and his demons are allowed to escape from Hell, it will be the end of nightmare. I must destroy the connection between the worlds and keep it from opening again. _

_Vergil, you are the oldest and therefore it is your duty to watch over your brother and your mother. Make sure Dante stays out of trouble. _

_Dante, stay out of trouble and stop trying to pick fights with your older brother all of the time. Stay strong for your mother. _

_Together, Dante and Vergil, you will be the unstoppable force, defeating the evil demons and protecting this world. Trust each other and trust yourselves. And forgive me for what I have done. It was not in my best interest to give you something before my final battle, but I believe I have given you a gift; a younger sibling to watch over and care for. _

_Find your new sibling, my sons. Protect them, guide them, help them grow into being a child of Sparda. Together, you three could be the protectors of the world. _

_Eva, forgive me. Even though I have been tricked into believing another was you, I do not regret it. Bringing new life into the world is what it is all about. It was always you and never someone else. Please, my love, give the child a chance and help it and its mother. She is not at fault for this either. If any fault, it is mine for concentrating harder onto detecting the deception. She is very young and she will need your guidance if you will give it. _

_I love you and forever, my love and my sons. I will always be apart of you. And I will always be with you. _

_Finally, to my new child, if you ever get the chance to see this, you were not intended to be born but I do not regret creating you. Like your brothers, you are Child of Sparda. You will probably have the same demonic powers as they do. And you will probably be neglected, treated poorly by others, misunderstood as it is for all half demons. But fear not, my child. Your brothers will always watch over you. And I will watch over you in spirit. I wield you my power as I have to Dante and Vergil. And always remember, use your powers only for the good and never evil. _

_Love Always and forever, _

_Your Father, _

_Dark Knight Sparda_

Nero dropped the book, almost as if it had stung him and moved away from it. He couldn't believe this. He couldn't believe what he had just learned. He was a Son of the Dark Knight, the Demon Warrior, Sparda. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. We're not." Dante remarked, folding his arms and shifting his weight again. "Vergil and I were nine when you were born. Three years after that, our mom died from a demon attack. And then Verg and I had our fall out. I wanted to kill the demons, he wanted to embrace them. But we never got this book." He shrugged. "I only found out not too long after you killed Ol' Santa Clause or whatever his name was that he knew about you from the minute you were born because he was the one to find that book. He started to plan that whole Order of the Sword and then become a God thing since you were born. He just didn't want anyone to find out so he tried to pretend you were human. Unfortunately," He glanced down at Nero's demonic arm. "When you hit puberty, your demon powers manifested and he had to kick up his plans. By that time, Lady was snooping around and keeping an eye on the Order of the Sword. Plus Trish went and gave them Vergil's broken sword......." He suddenly stopped talking as he realized what he just said before his eyes snapped wide open. "Oh shit."

"Broken?!" Vergil demanded, his demonic powers starting to flare up as he glared dangerously at his twin brother. Blue electricity were starting to dance up and down his body while his demonic form flickered back and forth between his human form. "What do you mean broken?! Did you break Yamato, Dante?!!"

Dante raised his hands stepping back while everyone stared between the two, watching dully as the icy twin started moving towards the other. "Hey, hey, hey! It was an accident!! I didn't mean to break it! Besides, Nero fixed it!" He said quickly, moving further away from Vergil.

Rolling their eyes, the She-Demon Hunters looked over at Nero, who was still taking it all in. Trish stepped even closer to him, placing a hand onto his shoulder while ignoring the sounds of fighting off to the side. "Nero, think of it this way, besides having two idiot older brothers, you've got the power you need to save Kyrie. Didn't you ever wonder what Sanctus meant when he said that you had the blood of Sparda flowing through your veins?" She shrugged, giving him a light smile. "He was kind of letting you know that you were the final son of Sparda in his own twisted way. And in a way," She nodded to the huge grotesque sword hanging on his back. "You are Sparda. That's why the Sword of Sparda will only fight for you now that you've claimed it. You now know what you are capable of."

"If you get in touch with the power inside of you, unlock Sparda's power," Lady remarked, smirking. "You're going to be able to help those two idiots take down a Demon God."

"And save Kyrie." Marlene spoke up, smiling brightly as she stepped forward with Denzel, who was smiling with her.

Nero stared at them for a moment before looking over at Dante and Vergil who finished punching at each other or swinging their swords and having Cid yelling at them that if they did any damage to his ship, he'd kick them out while flying. The younger Half Demon was more worried about their reactions more than anything else, really. "What about you guys?" He asked, quietly getting their attention.

Both Dante and Vergil looked over at him and stared for a moment before glancing at one another. It was mostly the oldest brother that didn't look too happy. He actually looked pissed about the whole situation. But the younger twin shrugged and folded his arms after hooking his Rebellion back onto his back and moved over to where Nero stood. "I was pissed about it when I first found out that you're the youngest Sparda brother, Nero. Believe me. I had to take out a good amount of demons just to cool off. But as I thought about it, I decided to come to terms with it. It wasn't your fault that you were born. It wasn't your mom and it wasn't Sparda's." He then reached over and cuffed Nero over the shoulder when he started to look rather forlorn. "Don't look like that, kid. I'm not saying that I'm regretting you're here. Hell, I'm actually glad you were born." he grinned down at the somewhat taken aback Half Demon next to him. "It gives me a younger sibling to pick on and teach how to really fight the right way."

Nero made a face as he gave Dante a look. "Thanks. I think." He remarked before looking at the still angry looking Vergil who was giving him a look as if he was some bug he wanted to step on.

"Vergil," Dante said, without even looking at his twin brother. "You better learn to accept it because if you try to hurt Nero, you will not only get your ass handed to you," He finally turned around and looked squarely at the oldest brother. "You will have to deal with me. I didn't like it either but you have got to face the facts. He is our kid brother and I might be pissed at Sparda for everything but I'm going to do as he's asked. I'm going to watch Nero's back. Now what about you?"

Still very hard eyed, Vergil just looked directly at Nero, looking him over before turning and walking right out the room.

"Um......" Nero hummed frowning.

"Trust me, that's as close as an acceptance you are going to get from him." Dante said with a snort of humor. He looked back at Nero, grinning. "Welp, you know now who and what you are. Why don't we get started?" Nero stared at him with an almost bewildered look and the older Half Demon grinned even more slyly. "On your new training. I told you. I'm gonna start teaching you how to tap into your demonic powers and using them. Like it or not, you are apart of Sparda's bloodline. The only way to learn how to use his powers is through me or Vergil. And since Verg is out of the question, that leaves me." He told him before nodding him to follow.

"I really don't know either to feel very concerned or just go with it." Nero remarked dryly before following after his supposedly older brother. Everyone else just snorted with humor.

"Well, at least he's taking it well." Lucia said, folding her arms and smiling at Lady, Trish, Malene and Denzel.

Shelke, however, frowned thoughtfully as she thought about everything that just happened. She understood all of it at the most part and even found herself very interested in it. But there was one thing she had to question. How in the world did anyone expect someone like Vergil to accept something like that?

With a determined look, she went to find out.

It didn't take long at all to find out where Vergil went, after even glancing at the Shera's security system that she helped build. She found him out on the outer balcony, watching as clouds whizzed by, or at least the other way around. There was a troubled look on his face, more or less, he wasn't happy at all. Shelke couldn't blame him at any extent. Watching him carefull, she approached him, tilting her head to the side. She could already tell that he was aware of her presense but he still didn't look at her.

"I'm curious about how you are handling that bit of information." She eventually said calmly.

"And what business is it of yours?" Vergil asked coolly, still not looking at her. Shelke shook her head as she slowly joined the much taller and colder tempered person to just looking out at the scene before them. She didn't say anything for a very long time, processing all of her thoughts and wondering of what she could say next. But she really didn't need to. For the cold Half Demon spoke up again. "I actually suspected it from the moment I seen him." He finally turned his icy blue eyes onto the young girl, meeting her amber colored gaze. "Nero. When I first looked at him, I started to suspect as much that he was one of us, Dante and myself. I can sense the power of Sparda within him. He also shares characteristics of Sparda as we do. Meaning……"

"He looks like you." Shelke finished for him.

Nodding his head once, Vergil looked forward again, his icy gaze narrowing only a little. He wasn't too sure how to take it exactly. He wasn't happy about it, that was for sure. To even hear that his demonic father had even produced another son, it was unacceptable.

Yet……for some reason, he was doing just that.

"He better be a powerful fighter." Vergil found himself said quietly as he narrowed his eyes. "I won't accept a weakling for a sibling."

And beside him, Shelke merely glanced up at him before looking forward again, her lips curving only a little into a smile. She had to admit it. He might be a cold person, but he was amusing.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Now I don't know how Nero is related to Dante or Vergil other than the fact that he is. I've looked every where for any information that might give me the idea and I didn't get any real information about it. So I decided to make it up. Unless the creators of DMC say other wise, I'm going with it. You don't like it, tough. My story, my rules. I want Nero to be Dante and Vergil's younger brother.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DMC or FF7 characters, except the ones you've never even heard of.**

* * *

**Time to Hunt Again**

**Chapter 13**

* * *

It was not long before the Shera reached Mideel. Time had gone by pretty fast while everyone was watching Dante teaching Nero how to tap into his demonic powers, which he kept getting annoyed at the teenager for hesitating every time. It wasn't even hard to figure out that Nero was still very uneasy about what he learned from his supposedly older brother. He was very distracted while fighting with Dante during their training and kept mis-stepping or holding back while using his demonic arm.

Dante was starting to get irritated with him every time he couldn't hold his energy very well. That was why he started taunting him, trying to get him angrier.

"Dude, Nero! Are you really this weak?" The red wearing Demon Hunter yelled as their blades clashed loudly against one another, both glowing from the demonic energy they possessed. "Even a human child can beat you if you keep fighting like this!"

Nero glared at Dante as he spun in a full circle, ducking under the Rebellion as it was swung at him. He threw up the Sparda sword to deflect the attack before lashing out his brilliant red and icy blue arm, trying to activate its power into throwing his older brother back. He only grew angrier when Dante easily ducked under it and threw out his foot, kicking the teenager back hard until he stumbled over his own feet and went to the ground, rolling only a little. His chest heaving, he nearly growled at the older Demon Hunter as he just remained crouching there for a moment before shoving himself forward to attack again.

However this time, Dante just moved in a blur to move around Nero before elbowing him hard from behind and sending him sprawling again. Now feeling even more annoyed, he shook his head as he stabbed his Rebellion into the ground and leaned against it. "Nero, if you keep going on like this, you're not only going to get yourself killed but your little girlfriend too." He said dully.

"Shut up!" Nero snapped as he stood up straight, panting a little. "I'm trying, all right?"

"Trying is not going to work." Vergil spoke up from where he had been standing, surprising Nero only a little. He had been watching with the rest of their crew, who didn't look any impressed as the twins did. They were actually looking a little hesitant about feeling either sympathy for him or trying to encourage Dante to push harder so that Nero could actually do it. It was a very tough decision though. They knew that pushing him too hard might make him a little...destructive, maybe. "You have to do to succeed."

Nero rolled his eyes as he stood up straight, rubbing his chin with the back of his human hand as he took a quick breather. "Yeah, well that's easy for you to say. You've been around a lot longer. You know how to tap into your demonic powers. You probably had our so called Dad show you how, even if you were kids."

Now giving the younger Sparda son an icy look, Vergil moved forward to stand about fifteen feet away from Nero. He did not look impressed with his youngest sibling's attitude. "No, actually, we did not. We had to learn for ourselves just as you will have to." He shot a glance over at Dante before he suddenly vanished in an icy blue blur.

Sighing, Dante shook his head as he yanked the Rebellion out of the ground and moved just as fast as Vergil. "Guard up, Nero!" He merely shouted as he whizzed right up to the teen with Vergil and swung his sword up.

Startled, Nero quickly spun around in time to nearly get slashed by the Rebellion before he felt a sharp slice cut into his cheek. Hissing in pain, the teenage Half Demon ducked under another slash sent out by Vergil. He tried to move back as the oldest slashed again, only to get a nice little slash across the left arm by Dante's blade. "Hey! Double teaming! Not fair!" He yelled in anger as he barrel rolled away from both offending blades.

"Demons don't play fair, Spawn!" Vergil said coldly as he came swinging his blade and nearly slicing Nero's face again. He only nicked the teen across the cheek again, giving the first cut a shape of an X. "They always gang up on their prey! With your sword play skills, that's all you are! You are the prey! Not the Hunter! All you do is swing your sword, hoping that it slices open something! You are not fit to be a Son of Sparda if you cannot unlock the Power of Sparda!"

"Shut up, already!" Nero just snapped as he tried to duck under both blades swinging at him before having to dive to the side after both nearly cut into his back and chest. He quickly rose the Sparda, standing in a nearly horse stance, glaring at the twins in front of him. He barely seen Dante quickly glanced over to the side at someone, jerking his head for them to join in before having to dive again as many jolts of lightning came raining down on him as Trish came flipping into view.

An explosion made Nero's head jerk around before he had to spin quickly as Lady shot a missile at him. The missile, however, passed over the large outdoor balcony of the Shera before exploding.

"You guys! That's totally not cool! Ganging up on him like that is so not fair!" Marlene yelled as she took a step forward to aid Nero, but it was Barret who caught her by the shoulder and shook his head at her. "Dad!"

"He's got to learn on his own, Marlene." Cloud was the one to say as he folded his arms and watched as the Half Demon twins and the two Lady Hunters attacked the teenager. Lucia had not joined the four in attacking the youngest Demon Hunter. She would have rather not to. She didn't like the gang up at all more than Marlene or even Denzel. She knew that it was kind of being unfair to Nero with all of these powerful half demons and Weapons Specialist was doing right now.

Nero swore loudly as Dante's sword slashed into his side, spilling a little blood through his vest before he managed to dive over Lady's large Kalina Ann blade that nearly gorged him. He was getting angrier, that was for sure. He was getting fed up by the twins' little games of 'training' him. This was so not the way to do it.

Angry enough that his eyes flashed brightly, nearly turning red as he unleashed a rather feral growl as his body began to flicker an un-natural blue. His demonic form was starting to flicker to life all around him as he somersaulted away through Trish's lightning and diving away from Vergil's Yamato. He had to spin quickly on his heel just as Dante nearly stabbed in him the side with his Rebellion before a bright flash exploded all around him.

The demonic energy that Nero was starting to emit knocked all four back, staggering only a little before Dante and Vergil both smirked evil twin smiles as they watched Nero glare at them with fiery red eyes as well as with the demonic form's deep ice colored pair.

"Getting better, little brother." Dante teased as he moved in a fiery red blur, along with Vergil's icy blue.

Both of the Half Demon twins began to zigzag as they charged at the third, Rebellion and Yamato clinking loudly as they tapped each other before they both jumped into the air on opposite sides of Nero and bring their blades down towards him.

Fiery eyes flashing, Nero's head shot up just as he brought up Sparda's sword to deflect theirs. While doing so, the grotesque sword pulsed violently as the orbs in the muscular looking sword flashed brightly just as the Rebellion and Yamato slammed down on it.

There was an almost sonic boom all around the Shera before a powerful gust of wind exploded from the large blade, knocking both Dante and Vergil away from Nero. The gusts nearly blew everyone over, causing every one of them to throw up their arms or have to brace their selves to avoid getting thrown to the ground like Dante just had. He, unlike Vergil, went crashing across the floor while the elder brother landed cat-like on his hands and feet, catching himself with only one had as he looked at the bright glowing sword in the youngest brother's demonic hand.

"Hm. I guess you are stronger than you look." He merely hissed in amusement. "I suppose this gives me a reason to call you a younger brother now."

Nero kept on glaring at him but it seemed that his fiery red eyes took on a lighter look until they were nearly sea blue again. The demonic form swirling all around him began to flicker out of view before it was just him standing there. He then doubled over, slightly weary from the power usage but there was a smirk on his face as he glanced to where Dante had landed. "Heh, at least I got to knock Dante on his ass." He muttered, chuckling. "Or at least, in this case, on his head."

Everyone on the overlook laughed as they glanced over to where Dante was laying upside down, against the wall, who shot the youngest Sparda son a dark look. "Oh, shut the hell up, Nero!" He snapped as he pushed himself off the wall and back to his feet. It only caused everyone to laugh harder.

_**"Hey!" **_Cid's voice boomed out of the intercom. _**"We're approaching Mideel! Be there in one minute! Get ready! We're going for the ten foot off the ground landing so make sure to get off quick! There's too much demonic activity on the island and I don't want any of those creatures on my ship!" **_

Once he said that, everyone turned and walked over to the side of the deck and looked down. They were still passing through a low cloud but as soon as they broke out of it, they saw the island. And it did not look too pretty. It was still very green from the jungle inhabiting it, but there was a high stone tablet starting to glow a fiery red with demons now shown on the ground, surrounding a large pond of Mako liquid.

Seeing all of those demons made all of them frown with serious concern. The island was nearly engulfed of demons and it looked like more were slowly starting to join them on the sandy beaches. It looked like the demons didn't even know what to do because of the surrounding water.

"How in the hell does Mundus expect to get all of these things off of the island?" Cloud was the one to ask as he frowned deeply.

Dante shook his head as he slid his Rebellion back into its rightful place on his back. He didn't like this. This was getting very ugly and it was starting to piss him off. He merely glanced over to both Vergil and Nero before looking over at Vincent. "Why don't we go find Sephiroth and Mundus and find out?" He asked simply.

Cloud shared a look with Zack before looking towards an intercom. "Cid! Get as close as you can to the island. We're going to form into three teams. Rufus," He looked over at the former President of Shinra Inc. "Do you mind hanging tight on the airship and serve as a sharp shooter from the deck? We'll need Cid to fire all of his cannons at all of those demons and destroy as many as possible." he told the other blonde

Rufus sharply nodded. "I'll stay on board then." He glanced over at Knife, nodding to her. "So will Knife. She's a dead shot with a harpoon gun and she can load as many arrows as she needs." He told everyone.

"All right." Dante spoke up glancing around. "So three teams. One team to go destroy the Hell Gate, one to take on the demons on ground and one from the air, right?"

Cloud looked over at him, nodding. "Yeah. I'm figuring that you, your brothers, Vincent, and Shelke take on the Hell Gate. Shelke, can you get another one of your devices on the Hell Gate and activate it long enough until they can destroy it?" He received a nod from the young girl. "Good. That's why I want you to go with them. Me, Zack, Barret, Yuffie, Nanaki and anyone else will try to lower the numbers of the demons." He announced.

Trish rose a hand while using her other to throw a thumb towards the Half Demon brothers and Vincent. "I'm going to stick with them. Someone's gotta keep Dante in line and I think I'm the best to do it. Lady?" She asked, looking at her black haired friend.

"I'll stick with Blondie and his team." Lady remarked nodding towards Cloud and ignoring the dry stare she got for it. She paused for a moment to realize that Reno was standing directly next to her, nodding. "What, you sticking with us too?" She asked, nearly glaring at him. Though, deep within, she did not mind him at all. She was actually learning to like this roguish, stubborn ass.

Grinning at her, Reno nodded. "Hell yeah, baby. I think I want to stick close to that gun of yours. Anything that big must be worth seeing in action. I wanna see what it does." He told her, winking at her.

Lady glared at him, though only a few could barely see that smirk fighting to stay off her pretty face. "Don't make me repeat my words from when we first met, Red!" She growled at him, earning only a chuckle from him.

"I didn't say anything." Nanaki murmured, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Lady shot him a disgruntled look. "No, not you! I'm talking to him! If I was talking to you, I'd call you a cat…..or…..dog….or lion. What the hell are you, anyway?" She asked, her nose crinkling as she stared at him.

Nanaki just shrugged. "I think the more appropriate name for my kind, if I had a kind would be called a Moomba." He stated and earned a blank look from the black haired beauty. It was clear that she had no idea what the heck he was even talking about.

"I wanna go with Dante's team to take on that asshole, Sephiroth or Mundus or whoever's in charge!" Marlene immediately said as she snatched out her twin hand guns and cocked back the hammers.

"Oh, hell no you don't, young lady!" Barret immediately protested. "You will be staying on the airship!"

"DAD!" The teenage girl groaned loudly.

Barret shook his head, giving her a very stern look as he folded his strong arms over his chest. He was not going to let her whine her way out of this one. "Don't Dad me, Marlene! I mean it! Stay on the Shera! You can shoot the demons from up here but I do not want you down there!" He growled at her.

Marlene only stomped a foot and folded her arms as she looked away from him. She knew better than to argue with her father. He was better at arguing and he was her father. He knew how to make her listen.

"Denzel and Rude, you'll come with us." Cloud finished the team ups. "Everyone else can stay on the ship and fight the demons from up there. We'll need as much air cover as we can get."

Everyone, minus Marlene just nodded as they moved into their positions. They knew they would need to hurry. By the looks of it, the Hell Gate was already open. And hopefully, they would get to it before either Kyrie or Elena was dead. Which, they hoped that they weren't. They hoped they would get to them on time. It couldn't be helped that Nero, Rufus and the Turks looked extremely worried about who might be used for this Hell Gate's sacrifice. And it was clear that it had already started with all of the demons pouring out. They just hoped that it wasn't too late.

Finally, the Shera dove down closer to the island and catching some demons' attention. They were starting to roar and snarl up at the ship, prepping an attack on them. Some even began blowing fire or whatever they had at the ship, trying to attack.

In return, the Shera began firing back, along with everyone on the ship. They began sniping and shooting at the demons, trying to lower the demon numbers for the two teams that would be on the island. Even Rufus and Knife had already started shooting, along with Lucia with her throwing knives.

As soon as the Shera was close enough, the two teams quickly jumped over the railing and landed heavily onto the sandy beach. A few, such as Denzel, Nero, Yuffie and even Reno slipped a little on the unsteady ground but they were quickly on their feet again and charging back at the demons that were moving in for the kill. Swords flashed, guns exploded as they began taking on the demons, with the exception of Red XIII roaring and charging at the demons to attack with his fangs and claws.

Beside Dante, Nero was swiping the Sparda sword and taking out quite a few demons with one swipe of the grotesque blade. It almost amazed the young Half Demon how powerful the sword truly was. It moved with almost every thought that came into his mind.

"Let's move! We need to get to the Hell Gate immediately!" Shelke yelled as she turned into a spinning orange blade of light with her laser rods. "These are just small fry but my computer is picking up that the large one is finally coming out of the Hell Gate!"

"Well, looks like we better hurry then!" Dante yelled back as he slashed down a large Chimera demon. He merely glanced over at his brothers, Vincent, Shelke and Trish before he took running across the beach, still slashing any demon that bothered to come close to them.

All the while, Cloud, Zack and their team was taking on any demons on the beach with the Shera circling quickly over the island and shooting them down from the ship team. No one even noticed the petite form quickly sliding down a long chain hanging down from the back of the deck, for everyone was just too busy.

As soon as her feet hit the sandy beach, she was dashing off into the trees and bushes.

It wasn't even long before the Half Demon brothers, the Ex-Turk, the Electro She-Demon and the young girl quickly approached the large stone tablet. They must have cut down more than a hundred demons while running through the overgrown trees and vines. More than once did they have to stop to take them down. It was a mess as they went.

However, it wasn't long before they even found the base of the Hellgate.

It was in a clearing near the Mako pond where several demons were lapping up the burning liquid. There were several bodies surrounding the pond, however, proving that those demons could not take the power of Mako. Slowly, their bodies were burning as if acid had been poured down their throats and bits and pieces burned away until red lights and ashes floated up into the air. The very air of the entire area was burning red, as if violent red smoke surrounded the entire area.

At the base of the Hellgate, the half demons, the Ex-Turk, the she-demon and the young girl immediately spotted the bloodied figure serving as the sacrifice. She was just lying there, motionless as if she was already dead.

And for a moment, all of them thought that Elena was dead.

"Shit." It was Trish to swear as she looked around with wide eyes as she clutched her two guns within her hands. Her eyes fell on the bloodied up Turk, grimacing. "She's dead. We're too late."

Frowning or cursing, everyone stared at the prone form before looking up as the burning Hellgate began to open up again. This time deep acid green scaled claw stepped out and began pulling the rest of it out. And by the looks of it, it was a massive demon.

Everyone halted and looked up with horror, shock or hard determination as they watched a massive beast with two heads snapping and snarling step out from the gate.

"Ooh, boy." Dante said, his tone very hard as he looked up at the massive beast. "That is a big 'un."

"What the hell is that thing?" Nero asked, quite horrified by the sight of this monster as it stepped clear from the Hellgate.

Frowning, Shelke pointed her minicomputer at the monster and scanned it for a moment. She frowned even deeper at the results, and did not look pleased at all from what she was seeing. "Hydra. A multi-head demon or monster. This is not good." She spoke in her dead panned voice. "From what I can gather information about it, you cut one head off, two more will grow back. It would serve us well not to target the heads." She warned them.

Everyone nodded as they looked back up at the two headed demon with determination. They all knew that they needed to be very careful with this one. They did not want to make a bigger mess than there already was.

As it was, the beast wasn't even looking at them. Both sets of eyes were on the bloodied figure of Elena, growling as it began to move closer to her. There seemed to be something very interesting about her that made it interested. It made everyone frown, even as they continued to approach it, before glancing over at the prone corpse of Elena.

Then Vergil frowned, his mouth parting a little. "She's moving." He said quietly. "She isn't dead."

Everyone tensed up as they watched Elena's form before they saw that she was breathing and her arm was moving slightly. She looked barely awake and was moaning in pain. But it was clear that she could see the monster coming towards her. A weakened cry escaped from her as she tried to move away from it but was too weak to do so.

Snarling almost in delight, Hydra pulled back both of its heads before lurching them forward to attack her and probably eat her.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue and red, surprising everyone before they saw that Nero had jumped in between Hydra and Elena, the Sword of Sparda struck upward, banging it against the monster's teeth and cracking one. His cold stare aimed directly up at the beast, he kept the gigantic sword blocking the twin mouths from the fallen Turk behind him. "I don't think so." He said very coldly before shoving the heads hard backwards.

The power he had put into that shove caused the beast to stumble backwards a few steps but both sets of eyes were wide with surprise to see the intruder.

"Shelke! Get over to the Hellgate and set up your device!" Vincent immediately took charge as he and the others hurried over to help Nero face the Hydra. He made a quick glance at Elena, seeing her pain etched eyes looking weakly up at them. He quickly looked her over to see where the most damage had been done to her and spied that it was just her arms. There was a very nasty gash running from her shoulder all the way down to her wrist. It was the same with the other. But it was clear that she had lost a lot of blood. "Elena, we're here. Hold on a little longer. We'll take care of you once we're finished here." He spoke softly to her.

Trish was the one to hurry over to her and gently place her knee upon the stone tablet where Elena laid. She gave the guys all a nod as she carefully slid her hand behind Elena's head and lift it up onto her lap. "Don't worry about her! I'll take care of her! You concentrate on that thing!" She told them quickly.

Again, everyone nodded as they turned their attention onto the giant demon.

"Welp," Dante said as he rest Rebellion on his shoulder, looking up at the snarling heads of Hydra. It didn't look amused that there were so many intruders interfering with its meal time. But then again, one of the heads did look delighted. It was obviously thinking more meat to eat. "Let's get this party started!"

Snarling loudly, the heads lurched forward and began snapping at all four of the men, who moved as quickly as they could to avoid getting snapped at.

Blades flashing and slicing into green scaly muscle, the three brothers and the mystical Ex-Turk began moving as fast as they could to taking down this demon. The sooner they killed it, the better.

Dante and Vergil took one side of the beast while Vincent and Nero were on the other side, slashing and shooting with their blades and guns. The Hydra snarled as both heads snapped at all four of them, meeting only air. But it's sharp needle looking teeth came very close to snapping on each of them.

And it did not help at as that it did have a long whip like tail lashing around.

Dante, himself, found that it was just as deadly as the two heads snapping at them. He had barely seen it coming out at him before he flipped backwards, slashing Rebellion into it as it came very close to slamming into him.

What surprised him was his blade bounced right off the green scales, sending him staggering backwards. His eyes narrowing in confusion and suspicion, he stared at the whipping tail for a moment before noticing that the scales did look harder than the rest of the body. "Great. An iron tail. Just what we need." He muttered before having to duck under it again as it came back at him. "Everyone! Watch out for the tail! It's scales are like adamantine!" He called to them.

"Oh, are you afraid of a little two headed lizard then, Dante?"

Dante's entire being tensed up before his eyes darkened and he turned to look over his shoulder at the very owner of that voice. He was not surprised at all to see Sephiroth smirking at him as he leaned against the burning red Hellgate. The silver haired tyrant was watching with amusement as all of them struggled with the Hydra, his powerful arms folded across his chest.

Turning slightly, the Hydra forgotten for only a moment, the red wearing Half demon glared at Sephiroth. "Sephiroth." He greeted with a hard tone in his voice. Before he smirked, his nose crinkling a little before he quickly yanked one of his guns out and aimed it right at Sephiroth, who did not look bothered at all. "Or should I call you who you really are, Mundus."

Finally, that seemed to get Sephiroth's attention. His eyes lit up and his smirk turned into a smile before his eerie green eyes flashed red as he stood up straighter, dropping his arms to his sides. "Oh." He spoke, his voice suddenly taking on an almost echo effect. He was speaking with two voices. "So, you figured out who I really am, did you?" Mundus' powerful god like voice boomed along with Sephiroth's.

"Yeah." Dante said coldly but kept a dry smirk on his face as he kept his gun trained on him. "It's not hard to figure out when the one you tried to control told me that it was you." He jerked his head towards his twin brother, who was still helping Vincent and Nero battle the snarling beast. "Vergil has a bone to pick with you."

Shrugging as if it didn't trouble him at all, Mundus in Sephiroth's body turned slightly away. "I do not care what that pathetic fool you call brother has with me. He was just a mere tool for me to use. A failed weapon. He doesn't concern me any more." He said coolly.

Dante's face hardened as he shook his head. "Yeah? Well, it's going to concern you when he slices your friggen head off. And as much as I don't care for him, I won't have you speaking about my brother that way." He warned him. "So watch it."

"Hmm. I care not for your prattle either, Son of Sparda. Both of you and your twin brother are mere tools of amusement for me to deal with. I look forward to causing your death painfully and slowly." Mundus in Sephiroth spoke. "As it is, even if you do engage in battle with me, you will die. I do have the most powerful warrior in existence in my control, after all."

"Yeah? Well, I think you're just as weak as you were before. Cause knowing what I heard about Sephiroth," Dante spoke with a smirk. "He don't like being used by anyone. Ain't that right, Sephiroth! That's all Mundus is doing with you! You gonna take that from him? Just like you did with Shinra!" He yelled as if trying to reach the dangerous Ex-Soldier deep within.

Mundus in Sephiroth's body turned a cold red glare onto him before shaking his head. "You foolish moron. I am Sephiroth now. And seeing that all you can do at the moment is prattle on when you should be concentrating on the demon, I think I will up the stakes." He spoke coldly.

His hand suddenly lashed out and a flash of silver struck through the air.

Dante ducked quickly but soon realized that Sephiroth's blade, Masamune wasn't even aiming at him. He whirled around on his heels, still crouched down to see where exactly Mundus/Sephiroth had been aiming and to his disappointment and surprise, two long necked heads dropped down from the scaly body in a bloody heap before the giant body slumped down to the ground. Nero, Vincent and Vergil were surprised to see the heads being cut off like that but to their silent and invisible horror, they knew that it was about to get uglier.

Espeically when a few seconds later, the giant body began to violently shake and tremble as two lumps began to bubble out of each of the stumps.

"Oh, shit." Dante groaned, his face falling as a pair of heads shot upward out each of the stumps. "This ain't good." He watched as the Hydra now had four heads snarling, growling and snapping its sharp teeth.

"Nice going, Dante." Vergil said coolly as he kept his unease and horror hidden very well. He stepped into a different stance, Yamato tightly in hand. "Now, we have to double the effort to watching all four heads."

The only reply to that was an eerie laugh from Mundus/Sephiroth and the beast snarling as its heads lurched forward to attack the four.

* * *

**Author's Notice:**

I know, I know. It's been a long time since I last updated this story. But like I've said before, at least I think I've said it before, I have no intention giving up this story. Sorry it took so long, whoever is still reading this story. I've just had a lot of projects on my hands and it's been crazy. I will be updating my Transformer stories pretty soon, just in case you've been reading those too. I'll try not to take so long to updating like I've done with this story. But like I've said, life is a little crazy right now. Review, please!


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